Eyes Open
by Holz9364
Summary: How would Harry Potters life be different if Severus Snape had gotten to the house before the authorities and had taken Harry away? Would he be better prepared for the inevitable fight or would growing up famous make him grow cocky? AU storyline!
1. Prologue

Eyes Open

The scene in the sleepy little village was cold, dark and foreboding. There were icicles hanging from the roofs of the thatched cottages. The air was icy with the only person in the streets shallow breaths. The sky was black and starless. The skull in the sky had an eerie green coloured glow casting a pale green light over the entire street. The houses were bathed in shadows as the dark clouds moved across the moon. One house stood out against the dark skyline, one house stood out in the perfectly straight row of beautiful old thatched cottages. It stood out because it was in a state of demolishment; it looked like a perfect ruin as it stood in the eerie green light. There was an air of mystery about the scene, it was clear strange and mysterious things had happened there. The roof of the house was half blown off and what was left was swaying in the high, whistling winds which roared as they ripped through house, reaching every crevice and leaving it open to the elements.

The street was silent, not an owl hooted, not a soul seemed to stir; no one had heard the noises, not the bang, nor the shouts, nor the screams, nor the yell of despair. No one had yet been alerted to the disaster; to everyone else this was a perfectly ordinary night. Yet one man was there before anyone else, one man who had known this day would come, one man who had tried all he could to stop it, one man who had failed. The man stood like a statue in the middle of the street, he wore black robes and a black robe with the hood drawn up, covering his jet black hair and enabling him to blend into the darkness of the night. All that was visible of his face was a long hooked nose and dark black eyes, eyes so black they almost sparkled in the green light bathing the street.

As Severus Snape made his way into the house at a snail's pace he could feel his heart beat so fast that he thought it might burst out of his chest, he smelled death and the blood froze in his veins. He made his way up the stairs, inhaling sharply when he saw the cold, dead body of James Potter lying there. His fear increased as he reached the landing and saw the green light at the end of the hall shining into what he realised must be the baby's room. He knew what to expect already, he had known the moment he apparated into the street but he prayed and hoped all the same that he was wrong. His sense of dread furthered as he got closer to the blasted apart doorway and when he eventually mustered the strength to push himself through it into the room his knees buckled underneath him causing him to crash helplessly onto the floor.

She was lying there, dead just like her husband, yet still looking as perfect as she had in life, as if she was merely asleep, with her eyes open, her eyes wide open. The green sky outside lit up with a flash of lightning and the skull loomed overhead, it lit up the room which was open to the air and look of fear on Lily's face became evident. She had died scared because of him. He had caused all of this; it was his fault that the only woman he had ever loved was dead. Severus fell apart as he watched her lying like that, so broken, he completely broke down and didn't care about who could arrive, the authorities, the families friends, he was frozen in fear and shock and he couldn't leave her now, not after all he'd done to her. Would this have happened if he hadn't been so stupid? If he hadn't pushed her away, would they have been together? Could he have saved her rather than killed her?

A scream of fear, a wail almost, pulled him from his horror-stricken daze and for the first time he saw the little boy in the cot in the corner of the room. He was old enough to stand and was holding onto the bars of the cot as if for dear life as he stared at his dead mother with the same large green eyes that Severus had loved so much, eyes that had once been so full of life. A feeling of horror spread through Severus, the boy had seen everything. Not quite sure why Severus stood and walked to the cot, he was drawn towards the boy. When he got to the cot the boy stopped crying and looked inquisitively at Severus before raising his arms as if asking to be lifted. Unsure of what he was doing and why Severus reached down and lifted the boy up, allowing him to bury his head into his chest. As he stood, with slightly shaky legs, holding the terrified child and looking at the woman whose death he had caused, he felt a sense of responsibility for the first time in a very long time and in that split-second he made a decision, a risky decision, the decision to take the boy away, to shield him from what would come, to protect him from it all.

It was then that he heard the first crack, the sound of Wizards apparating into the street below, the first screams of sorrow and shouts of shock and anger and despair. Wasting no time he spun and left the scene, the noise of his disapparation covered by the sounds on the street below.

TBC?

Just a prologue, love it, soooo want to continue it! Opinions?

Peace out! x


	2. When You're Sleeping,Keep Your Eyes Open

**Eyes Open**

_**A/N – Hope this is okay! First real chapter, so totally excited for this fic!**_

* * *

When Severus Snape spun into view at the gate to his large manor home he realised that he had just abducted a child. He froze for a moment where he stood underneath the dark, twisted iron wrought gates bearing the name 'Prince'. The manor had been the home of the Prince family for years; it had been the home his Mother had been brought up in.

What was he to do now? Severus wondered as he slowly made his way up the winding path, the overgrown garden on both sides creeping in on him, making him feel like there were countless eyes in the bushes watching him. Surely they would realise the boy was gone or would they think he had been killed like his parents? But no, they would wonder why there was no body.

Severus shuddered as he reached the large black oak doors with the peeling paint revealing the white underneath. The manor was a shadow of what it had once been; after all it had not been inhabited since the death of his Grandfather when he had only been a small child. It had once been a grand whitewashed building, a sight much like Malfoy Manor but it had been left to rot as the elements slowly wore it down.

Severus placed his hand on the door, it recognised him and swung open with the same creak it had since he had moved in after he graduated from Hogwarts. The entrance hall lit up automatically upon his entrance and the moment the door clicked shut behind him a large crack made both him jump and the baby boy in his arms start to cry.

"Misty is sorry Master Severus!" The small elf squeaked, she was a relatively young house-elf with the same beige-pink skin and large tennis ball sized eyes that any other elf had. Misty had bright blue eyes and wore what looked to be a recently cleaned pure white pillow case.

Getting over his initial shock and putting his jumpiness down to the fact he was now a child abductor Severus merely shook his head at his elf, "It is my fault Misty, I was not expecting to be bringing a guest home with me."

The elf nodded, her large eyes moving to the baby in Severus's arm, the baby which had stopped crying due to the gentle rocking motion Severus had been applying subconsciously.

"Master appears to be very good at pacifying baby." Misty noticed, as shocked as Severus was at this strange instinct he had never before noticed he had.

Severus could only ponder on this thought as he himself was not sure why he was good at this, he had never held a baby in his life, yet he seemed to know how to do it, like in a past life he had done this before.

"Would Master like a bottle of milk for the baby?" Misty asked as she followed Severus into the small study off of the entrance hall. Severus merely nodded to the elf as he sat down in his favourite armchair and watched the boy in fascination. He didn't understand why he felt so drawn to the child. The crack of Misty disappearing pulled Severus out of his daze and he looked around, making sure he was alone before he spoke to the boy.

"So you must be Harry." He spoke quietly and gently, "Lily told me all about you in her letters." He said with a sad smile, "She told me of how you were growing up so fast, I know a lot about you little Harry."

It was true; Lily had written to Severus weekly behind her Husband's back, James had no idea of the letters that had been sent back and forth in the last 3 years. As he cradled Harry, Severus reached to the desk to pick up the latest letter from Lily. It was stamped with the date, _Monday the 26__th__ of October, 1981_; it had been sent on Monday night, just 5 days before she was murdered.

Severus sighed deeply as he unfolded the letter and glanced at the familiar neat joined up writing. When he had read the words on that piece of parchment he'd had no idea what Voldemort had planned for his Lily, if only he had.

_Dear Severus,_

_The longer that we are in hiding the more I go insane with boredom and loneliness. These last few weeks have been terrible, I've not been able to go to work as you well know or even so much as leave the house! And being locked up with James is driving me insane; you know men like him aren't made to be told what to do. He isn't very happy with Dumbledore, especially now he's taken his invisibility cloak so he can't sneak out with the boys._

_I'm sorry it's been so long since I've been able to see you, I miss you. Harry is growing as fast as ever, he seems oblivious to all that is going on, well of course he is, he's only a baby. I wish he hadn't been born into this world, you know if I'd had it my way he wouldn't have been. Sirius bought him a broom and he's been zooming around the garden on it, it makes me wonder if he'll be a seeker like James or a chaser like you when he grows up! _

_Dumbledore says Voldemort still wants us dead because we pose too much of a threat to him. Did you know James thinks he's the last heir of Godric Gryffindor? He thinks that's why but for once I agree with you that he is being pompous; I mean who can trace their family that far back? But if it is true and Voldemort truly is the last heir of Slytherin then he could be right. Do you have any new information? If you did you couldn't tell me anyway, I know owl post isn't secure anymore. _

_I hope you are okay Severus, promise me you won't do anything stupid, when this is all over we'll be okay, I'll tell James and everything will be okay. We just need to make it through this war first, I wish it didn't have to be that way, I'm sorry. _

_Harry has just decided he wants his Mummy's attention so I'm going to have to dash and make sure he doesn't feel neglected, I want you to meet him one day Severus. _

_Take care of yourself and we'll talk soon, _

_Your Lily._

Severus didn't know how long he had been staring at the page for, not even reading anymore, just looking at the writing, as if he was praying Lily would emerge from the paper. Things were supposed to be okay, things were supposed to get better; they weren't supposed to end like this.

Another crack made Severus jump and awoke the slumbering baby in his arms who squinted at the sound and looked extremely confused, the sight made Severus smile very slightly. Misty quietly apologised for the wait and handed Severus a baby bottle, "Can Misty get Master anything else?" She asked.

"Can you prepare a cot in my room for Harry please?" Severus asked as he lay Harry back in his arms and placed the tip of the bottle in his mouth, the little boy gratefully sucked and Severus realised he was probably extremely thirsty. Harry took the bottle in his little hands and watched Severus as he drank from it. Severus felt like this little boy could look into his soul and it unnerved him slightly, yet it was something he had never experienced.

When Harry had finished his bottle Severus lifted the boy and made his way up the long winding staircase to the master bedroom on the 2nd floor of the manor. When he reached the room he found that Misty had already placed the cot in the corner of the room as he requested, Severus gently placed Harry in the cot and sat down on his own bed, taking off his cloak and shoes for the first time since he had gotten home.

Harry didn't go to sleep like Severus had hoped however, he merely sat up and looked at Severus through the bars, Severus stared back but the baby didn't seem to understand the concept of a staring contest. Eventually Severus sighed and picked Harry up, he lay the one year old down in his own bed and let him burrow into his side, he lay there for a long time watching the boy who was now technically his charge, listening to his shallow breathing.

Lily and Severus's relationship, if you could call it that, had been complicated, she'd been with James and she'd loved him, but he hadn't been everything she'd expected and Severus had been her rock, the one person she could constantly rely on, that had eventually transcended into something more. Lily had wanted it to be Severus who would look after Harry if anything happened to her but James had insisted that Sirius Black be made Godfather and as always he had gotten his way, much to Lily's annoyance.

Severus found himself spending the next few hours lost in memories of Lily, both good and bad memories, he found himself thinking about every aspect of their relationship since they had met as children. All the while he kept a close watch over Harry as he slept innocently, with no idea of what had happened to him and what was going to happen to him.

Severus had noticed the moment he picked the boy up that Harry had an angry red scar on his head in the shape of a lightning bolt, being an educated man Severus knew that a scar like that was caused by magic and very quickly he'd realised what had happened.

It had all started to click into place during the weekly 'meeting' on _Wednesday the 28__th__ of October_.

_**Severus took his usual deep breath before he walked into Lestrange Manor, he made his way through the entrance hall to the dining room where a group of death eaters sat at the long dining room table. At the head of the table sat their leader, the Dark Lord, or Lord Voldemort as he was otherwise none.**_

"_**Ah, Severus, I thought you would not turn up." Voldemort said as he turned to look at Severus, the man, if you could call him that, looked almost like a ghost. His skin was extremely pale and his eyes had a red tint to them, his hair was jet black and contrasted against his skin. He was skeletal and his face was extremely gaunt, his cheekbones very prominent.**_

"_**I am sorry my Lord." Severus said with a small bow, "I had to leave Hogwarts without the Headmaster noticing."**_

"_**I understand Severus, take your seat." Voldemort said, motioning to the seat in-between Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange. **_

_**With a small nod Severus took his seat and waited for Voldemort to speak. **_

"_**I have exciting news." Voldemort said, yet the tone of his voice was the same one he always used, he showed no emotion anymore, Severus wasn't sure he had the capacity for it.**_

"_**I have discovered that the prophecy Severus told me about could refer to one of two boys." **_

_**Severus tried hard to keep his poker face on, he had suspected for a while that his dear Lily's son Harry could be who the prophecy referred too.**_

_**Voldemort stood and walked around the table as he spoke, "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies." He appeared to mull this over for a moment.**_

"_**A baby born at the end of July whose parents have thrice defied me." Voldemort reiterated as he paused behind Severus.**_

"_**It can only refer to the child of the Longbottoms, or more likely, the child of the Potters." Voldemort was so close to Severus that he could feel the man's breath on his neck.**_

_**Severus did everything he could to act like he had no idea about this, in honesty he had suspected that Dumbledore knew but the man did not trust him enough to tell him anything yet. **_

"_**What is your opinion of this Severus?" Voldemort asked.**_

_**Coolly and calmly Severus replied, "I suspect that Dumbledore knows it is one of the boys my Lord but he does not yet trust me enough to share any such information with me."**_

"_**Interesting." Voldemort said as he continued down the room and sat back down in his seat at the head of the table.**_

"_**I see the Potter boy as more of a threat if the rumours are true about the Potter family being the heirs of Gryffindor," Voldemort mused, as if to himself, "I plan to investigate this further, I cannot be brought to my downfall by a mere child, not I, Lord Voldemort."**_

If Severus had known then that Voldemort had a way to the Potters he would have done more, he would have tried harder but he knew they had a fidelius charm protecting them. Severus sighed as Harry moaned in his sleep, he had tried to warn them, he had written to Lily but she and James had so much faith in Dumbledore, they saw no threat to them, they thought the charm would protect them, as it should have done.

The fact that Voldemort had gotten to them meant only one thing, Sirius Black, their best friend and supposed secret keeper had betrayed them, there was no other way that he could have found the house. However, the question running through Severus's mind as the first of the morning light began to stream through the wind, lighting up the entire room with its harsh orange light, was the question of why was this little boy alive? Why had Harry survived? It was clear that Voldemort had tried to kill him with the killing curse yet he had survived it when so many before him had not.

It could only mean that he was the one destined to vanquish the Dark Lord for good, because Severus didn't believe he was dead, he wasn't human enough to die, he was weakened and there would be peace for a time, but he would be back and when he returned Severus had a horrible sinking feeling that it would be down to the little sleeping boy to do the job.

He wasn't going to have an easy life, it was going to be hard, an uphill battle and he needed a family to get him through that, people who loved him and who cared about him. Severus wasn't sure why but he wanted to be that person for Harry Potter.

Before he knew it the sun had risen and an owl tapped on the window with his daily copy of 'The Daily Prophet.' Severus felt the knot in his stomach tighten when he realised what could be in this morning's paper. He opened the window and paid the owl its Knut. After checking on Harry Severus sat down in an armchair by the bed and unravelled the paper, with a sense of dread he glanced down and looked at the front page.

It was just as bad as he had imagined.

'_You-Know-Who vanquished! But where is Harry Potter?'_

Underneath the headline was a picture of the house, looking just as eerie as it had when Severus had appeared on the scene, the house half blown apart with the dark mark leering at it from the sky. Feeling sick Severus began to read the accompanying article.

'_Last night around 11.39pm ministry workers were alerted to a disturbance in Godric's Hollow. The sight they were greeted with when they appeared at the scene was extremely disturbing. The roof of the Potter home blown off and the dark mark high in the sky. It seems that the family were the latest victims of You-Know-Who. James Potter and Lily Potter (nee Evans) were found in the house deceased, the cause evident, the killing curse. However the mystery at the moment is where is their son Harry Potter? It seems that he has vanished without a sign._

_One of the first workers to the scene was Auror Sirius Black, close friend of the Potter family, he appeared visibly distraught and shocked at the death of his friends and alarmed by the disappearance of his Godson, Harry. It has become clear to the ministry that the Potters were betrayed by their secret keeper and close childhood friend, Peter Pettigrew who was apparently working for You-Know-Who. In his statement to one ministry worker Black made it clear that the Potters were alerted by Severus Snape, rumoured death eater and potions master at Hogwarts School, that You-Know-Who was getting closer to their location. This caused the Potters to change their secret keeper to Pettigrew under the assumption that the obvious choice would be Black which You-Know-Who could have well figured out. Pettigrew then gave away the Potters location, leading You-Know-Who straight to their door._

_Ministry workers and Headmaster of Hogwarts School, Albus Dumbledore, along with Black have been searching all night for any trace of Harry and believe that he is alive and in safe hands. In a statement to this reporter Dumbledore informed the Prophet that 'Harry has more than his Godfather Sirius, I believe he has been taken into safe hands and will be easy to find. I would advise the Wizarding World not to worry about the disappearance of the boy, we would know if he was dead'. _

_Nonetheless it appears that something strange happened in the Potter house this Halloween night as You-Know-Who has been weakened, and possibly defeated for good, but what caused this? We may never know, but the priority at the moment is finding Harry Potter._

_All of our prayers are with you Harry, may you be safe.'_

Severus sighed, Dumbledore knew that he had the boy, he had known last night so why had he not turned up on the doorstep demanding that he had him back yet? Harry stirred and started to cry, pulling Severus out of his thoughts, he picked the boy up and carried him downstairs before clicking his fingers to summon one of his two house elves.

Misty appeared again with a crack that alarmed Harry, "Misty, could you fetch some baby food and a bottle please?" Severus asked as he transfigured a wooden chair into a high chair and the tablecloth into a small toy.

"Of course Master Severus." Misty said and with another crack she was gone. When Severus settled Harry into the high chair and handed him the toy he calmed down and sucked on the toy, quieting him for the moment.

Severus breathed a sigh of relief, but it was then that he realised something was wrong, the fire behind him roared green and a tall figure emerged from it. Severus stood frozen, scared to turn around.

"Severus, we need to talk."

**TBC!**


	3. Yesterday We Were Just Children

**Eyes Open**

_"Severus, we need to talk."_

The words sent a chill down Severus's spine, he knew who that voice belonged too and he couldn't say that he wasn't expecting it.

"Dumbledore." Severus merely said as he turned around to face the old wise Wizard. The look he was met with was one that was difficult to decipher, the old man was wearing his favourite purple robes and was looking at Severus down his nose over his half-moon glasses. He looked disapproving yet intrigued at the same time.

"My floo network is locked." Severus observed as Misty appeared with Harry's food and bottle, "Ah thank you Misty, can you bring a teapot and two cups for my companion, Albus?"

"Yes Master Severus." Misty said as she disappeared again.

Turning away from Dumbledore Severus put the spoon into the bowl of baby food and began to feed Harry. Behind him Dumbledore said, "Hmm, yes, about that, perhaps you should make your passwords more secure. I got 'Half-blood Prince' within 5 minutes."

Severus ignored this jibe and offered another spoonful of food to Harry who opened his mouth and accepted it gratefully, "Yes, well a password such as sherbet lemon isn't a perfect example of a secure password, Dumbledore."

Dumbledore made no comment on this as he made his way over to Severus and sat down in one of the chairs near the newly transfigured high chair, "I know why you took him Severus, but we need to tell the world that he is okay."

"Do what you must Dumbledore, I don't expect him to be allowed to stay in my custody." Severus said as he continued to feed the child.

"We will discuss that later Severus, but for now, I want to know what you know about the disappearance of Voldemort." Dumbledore said, watching Severus closely.

"I know that he is not dead as the Prophet believes." Severus admitted, "Weakened perhaps, but not dead, he is not human enough to die in such a way."

"Alas, I had wondered the same thing." Dumbledore said with a sigh, "Poor James and Lily, they were good people."

"Yes." Severus said, rather stiffly, "They were." There was a pause in the conversation which Harry filled by eating very loudly, "Do you know what happened? Why he has the scar?"

"I have many theories." Dumbledore admitted, "None of which I believe are completely right." He appeared mournful as he continued, "Voldemort tried to kill him but the killing curse rebounded and hit Voldemort, weakening him and forcing him into hiding."

"What does it mean for Harry?" Severus asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Sadly it means that he will be famous before he can understand why. It means that the prophecy destined him to be the one to defeat Voldemort as I'm sure you've suspected." Dumbledore said, narrowing his eyes slightly at Severus, he wondered how much the potions master had suspected.

"Yes, I had wondered." Severus admitted, "I wish it were not so."

"As do I Severus, but there is nothing to be done about it now." Dumbledore said sadly, "We will shelter him from it as much as we can, I can promise that."

"We?" Severus asked with a raised eyebrow as he turned to face Dumbledore, the old man nodded, "Yes, we, Severus, you may have a claim to custody of the child."

Severus narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore as he finished feeding Harry and handed him his bottle, "Do explain Dumbledore."

"I will Severus, have patience please." Dumbledore said as Misty appeared, placing a teapot and two cups down on the dining room table, with a bow to Severus and Dumbledore she left them alone again. Dumbledore poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip, with a sigh of contentment he continued.

"There was a plan in place should this happen." Dumbledore informed Severus, "There were 3 options, his Godfather Sirius, his Aunt and Uncle, and you."

"I was never an option." Severus said, "Not legally anyway."

"But you see Severus, that is where you are wrong." Dumbledore corrected him as he pulled a document out of his robes and unravelled it, laying it down on the table, "This is the blood contract that you and Lily signed stating that if she died you would have custody of Harry."

"Surely, Black's claim takes precedence as he is the boys Godfather." Severus said, searching Dumbledore for any clues.

"It is complicated Severus." Dumbledore confessed, "Lily and James did not have a joint will as most couples do, they had separate wills and in James will he stated that in the event of both his and Lily's death custody should go to Sirius whereas in Lily's will she stated that she wanted you to have custody."

"But surely that means..." Sirius trailed off as he realised what the Headmaster was saying.

"Joint custody between you and Sirius, yes." Dumbledore confirmed, his eyes scanning Severus's face for his reaction to this news, "Of course if you aren't comfortable with the idea you can give Sirius full custody."

"No." Severus said quickly with a sharp nod of his head, "I can live with joint custody, I'm not sure Black would be so willing on the other hand though."

Dumbledore smiled, "You would be surprised Severus, this little boy is special, it seems you would both make large sacrifices for him."

_**When Albus Dumbledore apparated into the street where the disaster had happened in Godric's Hollow the place was crowded with reporters and ministry workers from over 7 different departments. There were cameras flashing as two bodies were carried from the house to cries and shouts. As he tried to push his way closer to the front of the crowd Dumbledore passed Rubeus Hagrid, who was sobbing loudly as he watched the Potters lifeless bodies being taken away.**_

_**The sight made Dumbledore himself feel sick and full of sorrow for the two young adults, he remembered their days at Hogwarts, days when they had been so innocent and hadn't entered this cruel world, days when they had still been children. Finally Dumbledore reached the front of the crowd and looked up at the ruined house, another feeling of sickness swept through him.**_

"_**NO!" The yell alerted him to the person he was looking for, Sirius Black. The man who was usually so well groomed and presented looked unrecognisable, his dark, shoulder length hair was messy and his face was pale and wet with tears as he knelt in the garden of the house, his eyes glued to the bodies of his two friends, "NO!" He yelled again and Dumbledore took a step toward him just as another man hurtled past him and into Sirius's arms.**_

"_**Sirius! Is it true? It can't be true, oh god, no, no, no." The equally dishevelled man was Remus Lupin; he was pale too and looked like he had spent many sleepless nights worrying about something like this happening. The two friends stayed like that for a moment, silent and crying Dumbledore suspected. **_

_**Dumbledore made his way to a ministry worker who was at the door of the Potter house, "Is there a boy in there?" He asked quietly so Sirius and Remus would not hear. The redheaded ministry worker shook his head, "No Albus, just an empty cot, we have no idea where the baby is."**_

"_**Is there any evidence that someone else has been here since they were killed?" Dumbledore asked, again in a lowered voice as he glanced over at the two distraught marauders.**_

_**The worker, an unspeakable who Dumbledore was well acquainted with replied, "Someone else has definitely been here, the scene was disturbed, whoever it was sat for some amount of time, we don't know what, but it seems like they just looked at Lily."**_

_**That sentence gave Dumbledore all he needed to know, who other than Severus would spend any length of time looking at Lily Potter, he had gotten to the scene first and he obviously had Harry. This was good; it meant that Harry was in safe hands.**_

"_**What do you mean not there!" **_

_**Dumbledore walked the short distance to Sirius who was now shouting at another ministry worker.**_

"_**How can he have just vanished? Where the hell is my Godson?" Sirius shouted as Remus grabbed him and muttered in his ear, "Sirius, calm down, shouting isn't going to help us find Harry."**_

"_**Remus is right Sirius, you must remain calm." Dumbledore said as he approached the two horror-stricken men.**_

"_**What do you know Sir?" Remus asked Dumbledore who glanced around, "Not here, come with me and I'll explain."**_

_**Remus nodded, taking Sirius by the arm and leading him through the crowd as they followed Dumbledore blindly, both of them so numb in the wake of the death of their best friends. They were stopped by ministry workers and reporters to give statements, all 3 of them, and by the time they reached a safe point to apparate it was just past midnight.**_

_**Dumbledore informed Remus to get Sirius to Hogwarts and they would talk there and with that he departed. Remus gripped Sirius tightly and apparated to the gates of Hogwarts.**_

"_**Remus, we shouldn't have left, we need to be there for Harry." Sirius said as they walked up the path to the school, Remus was surprised to see tears in Sirius's eyes as he glanced at his best friend.**_

"_**Sirius, Harry isn't there, if we are going to be any good we need to be out in the world looking for him." Remus said in the strongest voice he could because in reality he didn't feel strong at all, it was odd him having to be strong for Sirius, usually Sirius was strong for him.**_

_**Sirius seemed to be lost as he looked up at the school, "We had so many good times here Remus." He said in a small broken voice, "We will never have that again, we'll never speak to them again, and they're gone."**_

"_**I know." Remus replied quietly as his voice caught in his throat, they both let the tears run freely down their faces as they hurried through Hogwarts to Dumbledore's office, reaching it after what felt like an eternity and sitting down in the chairs in front of the desk awaiting the news that they knew he had.**_

"_**Harry is at Prince Manor, under the care of Severus." Dumbledore said calmly, Remus remained neutral at this piece of information but Sirius, already angry and upset at the death of his friends, did not.**_

"_**SNAPE! Why the hell does Snape have my Godson? He has no right to him whatsoever, he's a death eater! He could kill Harry or hand him over to Voldemort! I want him in Azkaban!"**_

_**Dumbledore remained calm throughout the outburst, "Sirius, this may alarm you but he does have a claim to Harry, a strong one."**_

"_**No, he can't, how..." Sirius seemed to be angered out and slumped into the chair he had risen from in his outburst.**_

"_**How does he have a claim to custody of Harry?" Remus asked as he placed his hand on Sirius's shoulder.**_

"_**In his will James stated that you should have custody of Harry, but in her will Lily said that she wanted Severus to have custody and there is a blood contract between her and Severus binding the deal." Dumbledore explained, his voice was even and calm but the look in his eyes showed the questions behind his thinking.**_

"_**Of course." Remus whispered, "She was having an affair wasn't she?" **_

_**Dumbledore nodded gravely, "I believe so."**_

"_**No!" Sirius objected instantly, "Lily wouldn't do that to James, she loved him, she would never do that to him."**_

"_**I'm afraid James wasn't the only man she loved Sirius. I was monitoring all the letters sent into and out of the Potter house in the last 2 weeks, she and Severus wrote to each other and it was clear from the letters that an affair was ongoing. Lily promised to tell James after the war so she could be with Severus." Dumbledore explained sadly to the duo.**_

"_**I can't believe it." Sirius said, both angry and sad, "I can't believe she did that behind James back, he loved her so much." **_

"_**I should have seen it." Remus said quietly, "The signs were evident for a very long time." **_

_**Dumbledore shot an anxious look at Remus before he gave Sirius the information he needed too, "At the moment the issue isn't what did or did not happen between Lily and Severus, but who gains custody of Harry. As one parent stated that Sirius should have custody and the other that Severus should, the only way I can make it work, and the only way the ministry will rule it, is joint custody between you and Severus."**_

"_**Okay." Sirius said after a long, painful silence.**_

"_**Okay?" Remus asked, the pitch of his voice higher than usual, he hadn't expected that answer, "You're okay with that?"**_

"_**I'm okay with anything if I get to see my Godson. When can I see him?" Sirius asked, it had already been long enough, he needed to see Harry.**_

_**Dumbledore managed a small smile, perhaps this boy would put old grudges to rest, "As soon as I've gone to see Severus and informed him of the news." Dumbledore stood and threw some floo powder into the fire place, "I understand this is a difficult night for you both, but if I could be so bold as to ask you to wait here, I will be back very shortly with both Severus and Harry."**_

"So what is going to happen?" Severus asked as he lifted Harry from his make-shift high chair and gently rocked him in his arms.

Dumbledore smiled at the sight, "I would ask you to come back with me to my office at Hogwarts so that we can discuss this further with Sirius. He is understandably anxious to see his Godson."

Severus nodded, "Now?" He asked.

Dumbledore bowed his head slightly as his answer to the potion masters question, "As soon as possible, but perhaps you should change your clothes first, you smell of baby sick."

Severus looked down to see an innocent looking Harry had just burped baby milk on his robes, "Ah." He said, his cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment. Severus took Harry up the stairs, transfiguring his clothes so that he was no longer wearing his nightclothes and then quickly changing into clean black robes.

When Severus met Dumbledore again in the dining room he took a deep breath, told the man he was ready and followed him into the fire.

Severus closed his eyes and gripped Harry tightly as he spun through the floo network, passing chimneys extremely fast until they eventually came to a halt in the fireplace of Dumbledore office.

The moment Severus stepped out of the fireplace Sirius hurtled himself at him and Harry recognised his Godfather in an instant, "SIRI! SIRI!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, deafening Severus.

Sirius grinned and took Harry from Severus's arms, "Harry! You're okay!" He said, breathing a sigh of relief as Harry grabbed his hair and tried to eat it. Remus appeared at Sirius's shoulder and again the little boy recognised him and tried to grab at him with his pudgy little hands, "REMY!" Harry shouted causing Remus to chuckle, "Hello little Harry, I'm glad you're okay." He said as he let Harry grab his finger with his little hand.

Dumbledore smiled at the scene as he sat down behind his desk and watched the reunion with his bright blue eyes, "Severus, Sirius, Remus, we all need to come to some kind of agreement about Harry as soon as possible." He said causing the group to turn and the lightheaded air to dim a little.

Sirius put Harry down and allowed him to toddle about, Severus hadn't been aware that the baby could walk, it only proved how much more Sirius knew about the boy, he had the privilege of being around him, James would never have let him near the house, he had seen Harry once when he was born, he had managed to get 5 minutes with Lily in the hospital.

"Okay." Sirius said, glancing at Severus, "What do you suggest?"

Dumbledore motioned for the group to sit and then told them what he had in mind, "Harry needs to grow up with all three of you in his life in a safe, familiar and happy environment. I would like for you to raise him in Potter manor."

"Together?" Severus asked, raising an eyebrow at Dumbledore who merely nodded, "Together, I would like for you all to live together in the manor and raise him as if he was your own child. If you cannot handle that other arrangements can be made, but as the will specified that both Sirius and Severus have custody of Harry there is no other way unless one of you gives up your custody."

"No!" Sirius and Severus replied quickly at the same time before sharing an awkward look and looking away from each other. Looking between the two men Remus asked, "Where do I fit in?"

Dumbledore smiled at the werewolf, "I'd have thought that would have been obvious Remus." He said causing the shy man to blush.

"He's going to find out anyway Remus if we're all to live together." Sirius said, glancing behind him at the mousy haired man.

"Oh don't worry." Severus said dryly, "There is no need to explain your relationship; I've known since 6th year, the entire school has."

Sirius opened and shut his mouth a few times before giving up and glancing at Remus who looked very embarrassed as his face had made the transition from slightly pink to beetroot red, "Not as discreet as we thought then." Remus mumbled causing Dumbledore to chuckle and Severus to raise an eyebrow at the werewolf, "Broom cupboards are not soundproof Lupin, no matter how many spells you cast."

"You're a pervert Snape." Sirius said with a glare at the Slytherin who was about to insult the Gryffindor back when a squawk made everyone turn around.

The sight they were greeted with made them all chuckle, even Severus. Harry was sitting on Fawkes and was trying to make him fly, probably like his broomstick had. Harry had accidentally pulled one of the bird's feathers out as he took off causing the bird to squawk loudly, but now the large Phoenix was flying around the room close to the floor with a squealing Harry Potter on his back giggling away.

Remus rolled his eyes as Sirius pointed his wand at Harry and muttered, "Accio Harry' causing Harry to whizz through the air until he reached Sirius who caught him.

"That's child abuse Black." Severus said with a raised eyebrow at the action.

"What do you know about kids Snape?" Sirius jibed back rather bitterly causing Remus to sigh and remind Sirius that they had to learn to get on with each other and put their grudges in the past where they belonged.

"Severus knows more than you may think about children Sirius." Dumbledore cut in, "He fed Harry his breakfast this morning and kept a close watch on him last night, we are very lucky that he hasn't suffered significant emotional trauma, Lily was in his room when it happened, he saw everything."

This thought chilled them all to the bone and they were silent. In that moment both Severus and Sirius vowed silently to themselves that they would let go of their childhood and teenage grudges, for Harry. The special little boy had been through enough already and as two people who loved and cared greatly for him they did not want to be the ones responsible for causing him anymore pain.

**TBC!**


	4. Playing Soldiers, Just Pretending

**Eyes Open**

_A/N – I'm really glad this is going down well! I hope it continues too!_

* * *

It had been a troubled night for everybody involved, and a troubled day, the 1st of November. Dumbledore had insisted that the group stay at Hogwarts and try and get some sleep as he knew none of them had got any the night before. When Severus woke up in the hospital wing after his first few hours of sleep he was greeted with the view of Remus Lupin hovering around his bed.

"Severus, you're awake." The werewolf said, the moment he noticed.

"What do you want Lupin?" Severus asked as he narrowed his eyes at the man, it was clear he wanted to ask something.

Looking a little nervous and worried Remus sat down on the chair by Severus's bed, "I wanted to ask you about, um, about, uhh, well-"

"Lily." Severus finished, "You want to know about Lily and I." It was a statement not a question. Remus blushed and nodded, "I just need some closure on the issue." He admitted and although he would never admit Severus understood. Sirius and Remus had just lost their best friends and within 24 hours discovered that their best friends Wife had been going behind his back with his enemy, it didn't give the best impression, for either of them.

"Lily and I worked together at the ministry after our 7th year." Severus confessed, "I had become a death eater in my 6th year of school and realised very quickly the mistake I had made so I needed a confidant, someone to tell my information too who could relay it and that person ended up being Lily." He took a deep breath, he had never talked about this before and he was finding it difficult to keep up the calm facade he showed the world, "We met weekly for almost 3 years."

"How long did it go on for?" Remus asked in a very small voice, he was horrified, and Severus didn't blame him, "It started in the summer of 1979."

Remus gasped, "But...then that was right after the wedding...and that could mean..."

"Harry is James son Lupin, do not question that." Severus said as he looked over at the boy in question who was currently sleeping in Sirius's arms.

"Oh, okay." Remus said, again looking embarrassed, "Did she...well, did she love you?"

"She said she did." Severus replied, looking away from Remus, he wasn't sure if Lily had loved him truly or not, she had kept promising to leave James as soon as the war was over, "She promised that when the war was over she and James would get divorced and things would get better for us." Severus divulged to the man, unsure why but he supposed it was because he had nobody else to talk too, "I guess we'll never know if she would have or not, but I loved her Lupin, there is no doubt about that."

"Severus, are you crying?" Remus asked his voice quiet and concerned as he stood and moved closer to the Slytherin.

"No, of course not!" Severus snapped, "Don't be ridiculous." He then stood up and stalked off towards Sirius, not because he wanted to seek comfort in the man, but because he wanted to see Harry.

"Snape." Sirius greeted, almost politely when Severus approached the man.

"Black." Severus greeted back, "Did he sleep at all this morning?"

Sirius nodded, "A little, he took his morning nap but I don't want him to sleep too long, it will upset his overall sleep pattern and he won't sleep tonight." As Sirius talked about something as simple as Harry's sleep pattern it was obvious to Severus how much he loved his Godson.

"I'm angry at you Snape, for doing that to James." Sirius added, and sure enough the glare that Severus knew so well was projected his way.

"It takes two Black, you can't wholly blame me." Severus said logically as he sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled slightly as Harry crawled towards him and started to play with the hem of his robes.

"I'd bet my right arm that you initiated it, you always did like Lily." Sirius said, his narrowed suspicious eyes focused on Severus.

"Well then you would be a one armed man." Severus said calmly, "There was more to Lily and I than you or Potter ever knew, we met as children and we were friends for a very long time. I think you will find that when our friendship was rekindled Lily was the one who told me she'd made a mistake and married the wrong man."

"She really thought that?" Sirius asked, his voice sad and broken, he sighed, "I did warn James, I mean he was so obsessed with chasing her that it was almost like he wasn't going to care when he got her, in a way it felt like she gave in because it was what she felt she needed too, not because she cared, but then they really seemed to fall in love."

"I think she did love him, but it was a spark that died very quickly; I believe you are right that Potter cared more about the chase than Lily herself." Severus admitted, sharing more with the man than he ever had before but in the wake of Lily and James's death neither of them cared about old grudges and they found that the other was more likeable than they had before realised.

"James only wanted Lily in the first few years because she wanted you and not him. He didn't want to be beaten to her by you by I guess in the end, he was." Sirius said, his eyes on Harry as he crawled into Severus's lap.

"Oh I wouldn't say he beat me to Lily, we briefly dated in 5th year before the...incident." Severus told Sirius, continuing, "And I don't like to think of her as an object to be won as I know Potter did."

"If James had known he would have killed you."

"Oh, I don't doubt it, but he never did know, he didn't pay enough attention to Lily to ask who she was meeting or where she was last night or who she was writing too." Severus said honestly, the truth would hurt Sirius, he knew that but he wasn't going to soften it for the man or sugar-coat it.

"You helped a woman betray her Husband and you didn't care, you only cared about yourself and what you got from it." Sirius said bitterly, he was glaring at Severus again, that was the Sirius Black he remembered from Hogwarts.

"Well then we aren't very different, are we?" Severus quipped with a glance over his shoulder to make sure Remus was out of hearing range, "You may be playing happy families with Lupin now but how often would you be found in broom closets with a different girl every week at Hogwarts? Alice who was dating Frank at the time is one I recall and how about that time in the summer when I saw you with Narcissa Malfoy? You're cousin, I might add. Does Remus know about that?"

"No, he doesn't." Sirius said, glaring viciously at Severus, "And he won't find out either, that's in the past, I'm not that man anymore."

"And I'm not the type of man who helps women betray their Husbands." Severus said, defending himself, "I loved Lily for a very long time and I would have done anything to have her to myself, but I don't make a habit out of being the other man in a woman's life."

Sirius nodded and for a moment Severus was sure he looked guilty but the look on his face was gone as quick as it appeared, "A truce then." Sirius proposed as he held his hand out to Severus, "We're both new men so let's start this differently, a new start."

Severus looked at Sirius's hand for a moment before nodding marginally and taking it, he gripped it tightly and shook it, "Agreed, for Harry."

With a matching nod Sirius agreed, "For Harry indeed."

The two of them sat in silence for a while after that, Remus joining them and all three men watching Harry as he scrambled around the bed from man to man, pulling their hair, tugging their robes or shouting nonsense at the top of his voice.

"So what next?" Sirius asked, it was the question that they were all thinking.

"We go to Potter manor I suppose." Remus said, the man with the answers as usual.

"But no one has been to Potter manor since..." Sirius swallowed a lump in his throat, "Since Mr. And Mrs. Potter died." He finished.

"Dumbledore wants us to raise Harry there Sirius, what else can we do?" Remus asked although the question was admittedly a bit rhetorical.

"What about Grimmauld place?" Sirius asked, clutching at straws admittedly.

"We can't raise a child in that place Sirius." Remus said disapprovingly, "There are house elves heads on the wall and a portrait that screams obscenities at anyone who isn't of so-called pure descent."

"You have house elves heads on the wall?" Severus asked, "That's disgusting. Wizards need to learn to treat their house-elves with respect if they don't want them to betray them."

"Trust me Snape, if you met my house elf you'd want his head on a wall too." Sirius muttered earning him a glare from Remus, "Kreacher is just a bit misunderstood Sirius."

"I have a manor too you know." Severus said, "Prince Manor."

Sirius snorted, "Nice name."

"It was my Mother's name, before she married my Muggle Father." Severus said as he glared at the Gryffindor.

"Either way, I don't think it's going to be suitable." Remus said playing the role of the peacemaker, "Dumbledore wants Harry to be brought up in Potter Manor."

"Fine." Sirius sighed, but Remus could tell he had his reasons for not wanting to go back to Potter Manor. The Manor had been where he had spent every summer with James, it held so many good times for Sirius, times that saddened him now because he knew he would never have that again, he'd never see James or speak to him again and that was difficult enough for him to process without having to move into the home with so many memories.

"I know it isn't easy Sirius, but it's for Harry." Remus said softly.

"Everything we do for the next 11 years is going to be for Harry." Severus informed the other two, "We are going to be living to make his life happy, feeding him, bathing him, teaching him, buying his Hogwarts supplies, so if you want to think about yourself do it now because from now on its not about you or what you want, it's about what Harry needs."

"Well, Severus, that was very deep." Remus said with a smile, "And very true, from now on we focus on Harry, do you think you can live with that Sirius?"

"Yes Remus, I can." Sirius said with a rather immature hand motion, "I'm not as childish as you think."

"Yet all that did was illustrate how childish you are." Severus observed as he raised an eyebrow at the man.

"So, shall we go to Potter Manor and assess the damage control?" Remus asked, looking between the two men who were glaring at each other.

"We probably should." Sirius agreed, standing up and leaning down to pick Harry up, "Come on Harry, time to go home." He said quietly as he took the boy in his arms and led the way out of the hospital wing. They were all silent as they walked through Hogwarts, down the moving staircases, past the occasional student milling about, through the marble floored entrance hall, out the great oak doors, down the gravel path past the great lake and eventually reaching the gates leading into Hogsmeade.

When they reached a safe apparition point Sirius told Severus to hold onto Remus's arm since he didn't know where they were apparating too, he did as he was told and shut his eyes tight as they were squeezed and twisted.

When the horrible sensation stopped Severus opened his eyes and saw one of the grandest Manor homes that he had ever seen stretched out before him. They stood underneath the golden gates emblazoned proudly with the name 'Potter'. The gardens were remarkably well kept and extremely large, there were many trees and plants and flowers, the garden stretched on to both sides as far as the eye could see even on a dreary, dull day like this one. The Manor itself was as grand as Severus imagined Prince Manor had once been. The walls were whitewashed and remarkably clean, the large bay windows were framed in red, the Gryffindor colours. The path leading to the large red oak doors was concreted and each concrete block had a different image carved into it, mostly relating to Godric Gryffindor.

Sirius had gone very quiet and his face was extremely pale as they approached the doors. The group halted and waited, Severus wondered what for, did they have a key or did the Manor recognise blood as his did?

"Sirius, you'll have to do it. No one else can." Remus said and Sirius nodded, swallowing visibly he put his hand on the door and it swung open, "Lead the way." Severus said, to both Sirius and Remus, not sure which one would be able to enter the house first. Sirius handed Harry to Severus and walked into the entrance hall of the Manor. Remus and Severus followed and the sight Severus was greeted with astounded him, the floor was marble, as was the staircase leading to the upper floors, the room was very bare of furniture but not of trappings, there was a golden tapestry with the Gryffindor lion and many other paintings and tapestries decorating the walls.

A crack made the whole party jump, as did the click of the door shutting automatically behind them. A house elf, rather like Severus's own elf Misty had appeared, the only difference being that this elf had brown eyes not blue ones.

"Master Sirius has returned! And little Master Harry!" The elf squeaked, "What can Velda do for Masters?"

Sirius smiled, albeit a little sadly at the elf, he hadn't seen her since the last summer he spent here, the summer between his 6th and 7th year at Hogwarts, "James and Lily have sadly passed away Velda, myself, Remus and Severus are going to raise Harry here."

Velda's large eyes welled up, "Oh no, not Master James and Miss Lily, I hoped it was not true. How can Velda look after so many people all alone, Velda is getting to be an old elf now."

"Don't worry Velda you won't be alone. My elves Misty and Moxxy will be moving to the Manor as will Sirius's elf Kreacher." Severus said, putting the elf at ease.

"Velda will have new elves to talk too!" The elf squealed excitedly, Severus imagined it had been lonely for the elf living in this big house alone with no one to serve.

"Kreacher is not coming here." Sirius argued but Remus sighed, "Severus has the right idea Sirius, being around other elves will help him, he's just misunderstood."

"Fine." Sirius sighed, feeling like he was agreeing to a lot of things he otherwise not have done otherwise but this was not an exceptional situation, no one had expected Lily and James to die, no one had expected to be left in a complicated mess like this.

Severus clicked his fingers and summoned his two elves to the house; they appeared in an instant, Moxxy, a male version of Misty as he was her twin after all.

"Misty, Moxxy, this is your new home. Myself along with Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin are going to raise Harry here, this is the head elf Velda." Severus informed his elves who bowed to Velda and vanished to the kitchen.

"Sirius." Remus said with an amused look at the man who had raised his hand to summon his elf but seemed to be having issues with clicking his fingers.

"But Remus." Sirius whined, "I don't like him!"

"Man up Black, we all need to get on, that includes your elf. Would you rather you neglected him and he found a loophole to betray you to death eaters?" Severus asked in annoyance at Sirius's immaturity.

"Death eaters like you, you mean?" Sirius jibed, glaring at his not so ex-arch enemy.

"Yes Black, I was a death eater but for the last 3 years I've been passing information to the side of the light, if you still choose to view me as the bad guy go ahead but do you really think Dumbledore would entrust custody of a child to a death eater?" Severus asked, trying to contain his anger and failing, there was something about Sirius Black; he just managed to get him riled up.

"Whatever." Sirius mumbled clicking his fingers and waiting for the elf to appear as he did a few minutes later. This elf looked different from Velda, Misty and Moxxy, he was slightly older and a lot dirtier, his ears were longer and drooped down instead of perked up, he had bags under his eyes which were a dark brown, almost black colour.

"Master Black." Kreacher said, bowing reluctantly and looking bitterly at the man.

"Kreacher." Sirius said, glaring at the elf, "This is to be your new home, there are 3 other elves here, I want you to work together with them, do you understand?"

"Yes Master Black." The elf said, clearly not happy with Sirius as he disappeared with a crack to the kitchen without bowing to Velda as the other elves had.

"I apologise Velda, Kreacher is different to most elves, his last Master was a very evil man." Sirius said to the shocked looking elf.

"Velda understands Master Sirius, Velda will be easy on Kreacher." Velda bowed individually to all 3 men and then vanished to the kitchens with the other elves.

"Well, we're here, in Potter Manor." Remus sighed, "I suppose we should sort out rooms."

"I'll take my old room." Sirius said in a small voice, his room was next door to James's and he had a feeling it was exactly how he left it which made him feel both happy that the legacy was there but sad that there were so many memories in the house.

"Do you think we should give Harry James's room? It won't do us any good to leave it preserved like he's going to come back." Remus said, looking at Sirius as he tried not to cry and Severus as he looked indifferent, this Manor held memories for the others that he had not experienced, he felt like he was intruding in their memories just by being here.

"We should." Sirius agreed, "But not now, for now Harry can sleep in the guest room across from mine." Remus nodded, "Yes, probably a good idea, we can keep a close watch on him that way. Severus you have a choice of one of the 1st floor guest rooms or you can sleep in the 2nd floor guest room next to Harry's, it's a lot smaller but you'd be nearer to him."

"I'll take the second option." Severus said instantly, he wanted to be near to Harry and keep an eye on him as much as the others, after what the boy had gone through and given his tender age he didn't want to risk anything happening to him. This little boy was his last link to Lily and he couldn't lose that, he was starting to love Harry like a child and although that thought scared him it was almost reassuring, it reassured him that he still had the capacity to love, even after the loss of the woman he had loved so much.

**To be continued! **


	5. Dreaming Dreams with Happy Endings

**Eyes Open**

**_A/N - I'm gonna leave this at T for the moment because its not going to get any worse than its being in this chapter language and content wise. Also a couple of little things, the reason Frank & Alice are okay and haven't been tortured is because Snape gave the names of the death eaters at large to the ministry straight away so Bellatrix & Rodolphus were caught before they could torture them. Oh and Narcissa is like 5 years older than the rest of the gang so she and Severus met through he & Lucius both being death eaters, and Sirius obviously knows her because they are cousins. Any other questions send me a message, and if I've messed up a detail drop me a message and I'll fix it, unless i did it on purpose ;)_****  
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**_Enjoy folks!_**

* * *

It took some time to get used to raising a child, and not only raising a child, but raising a child in a house with two other men, two men who Severus had hated not a week before. Yet it had been one week since the fateful night when Severus had lost Lily forever, one week without a letter from her. Having a child hadn't proved as difficult as everybody said. It had taken a long night of arguing and the throwing of pillows and a million cups of tea but eventually the three men had managed to agree on a plan for Harry, when he would eat, nap and so on. They took turns entertaining him so that the others got days off from the responsibilities, it worked remarkably well with the largest issue being that Sirius and Remus fought every night over who got to read Harry his bedtime story. Severus was having much more fun than he liked to admit on his allocated 'Harry-sitting' days, he had taught the boy to say his name although he was now known as 'Sevvy' or 'Sniffy' as Sirius had taught him, but he had also taught the little boy how to raise his eyebrow which annoyed Sirius and amused Remus.

When it came to bath time which they had agreed ought to be two nights a week the trio fought over who had to do it because bathing Harry Potter was not a desired task. The little boy had an aversion to water, Sirius joked that he was like a cat, he would go crazy whenever they tried to put him in the bath, he would splash and scream and try and claw at the person bathing him. This Saturday had started out as a sad day with it being one week since the Potters had passed away, but when it came to bath time for Harry it lightened up everyone's day a little, well almost everyone's day.

"No way! I'm not doing it; you made me do it last time!" Sirius said in annoyance to Severus as he suggested that he be the one to bathe Harry.

"You drew the short straw." Remus said with a smirk causing Sirius to glare at him, "Whose side are you on here Remus?"

"I'm Belgium." Remus said as he turned the page of the book he was reading.

"What are you talking about? What the heck is a Belgium?" Sirius asked, throwing one of Harry's cuddly toys at Remus.

"It's a country you idiot." Remus retorted, throwing the toy back but missing Sirius and hitting Harry instead who was in his playpen behind him.

Harry frowned for a moment wondering where the flying toy had come from but then he picked it up and started to chew on it and was content, "Oops." Remus said from his armchair.

"And before you ask Black, Lupin said he was Belgium because he's remaining neutral in the argument, Belgium was famous for being neutral in World War 2." Severus said from the armchair he was sitting in next to Remus, also with his nose in a book.

"What do I care about a Muggle War?" Sirius asked in annoyance, he'd been in a bad mood all day.

"How did you get an A in Muggle studies?" Severus asked from behind his book as he rolled his eyes.

"He slept with Professor Ralston for the A." Remus said calmly without looking up from his book.

"What? Remus! How the hell did you know about that?" Sirius asked, his voice a lot higher than he meant it to be when he had started the sentence.

Remus looked at Sirius in amusement, "Because there was no other way you could have passed and she totally wanted you." He said as if it was obvious. Either way it shut Sirius up and he walked over to lift Harry out of his playpen, "Okay, so Snape, your turn to bathe Harry."

"Uh, no." Severus said, "It's my day off, remember?" He said with a pleased smirk.

"Well I am not doing it." Sirius said, putting Harry down on the floor of the living room and crossing his arms like a child who wasn't getting his way.

"Someone needs too, he's dirty, we can't just leave him that way, he needs a bath whether he likes or not." Remus said with a sigh as he put his book down on the table.

"Well, if you care so much about his cleanliness you can bathe him." Sirius said with a glare.

"It is your fault he's dirty Lupin, you looked away when you were feeding him and let him put the bowl over his head." Severus said as he too put his book down and stood up.

"Are you two ganging up on me?" Remus asked, looking from one to the other.

"Uh, yeah." Sirius realised with a frown, "Two against one, heres a grumpy Harry, have fun bathing him." He said with a grin as he handed Harry to Remus who groaned and dragged himself up the stairs to the bathroom.

As soon as Remus began to run the bath the water could be heard hissing up the pipes, Severus looked at Sirius and said, "And in 3-2-1." Right on cue Harry began to scream and Slytherin and the Gryffindor heard Remus swear loudly, Harry Potter had definitely been a cat in a past life.

"I'm glad we got a moment without Remus actually Snape." Sirius admitted, sitting down in the armchair that Remus had just vacated.

"Why?" Severus asked with a raised eyebrow from where he was leaning in the doorway.

"Well, there's something we should talk about without his interference." Sirius said, looking a bit awkward and nervous which was something even Severus knew was rare for the usually over-confident man.

"Black." Severus said slowly, "You better not be telling me you have a thing for me."

"What?" Sirius asked in disgust, "Oh god no! I might be gay but I still have taste."

"Well thank the lord for that." Severus mumbled, "What on Earth are you trying to say?"

Sirius sighed deeply, he could feel a headache coming on, "Do you think we should take Harry with us tomorrow? To the funeral?"

"Lupin and I already agreed it wasn't a good idea." Severus said with a frown, "I thought you agreed on it too?"

"Not quite." Sirius said, "I told Remus I was okay with it, but don't you think he has a right to go?"

"He isn't old enough to understand, there would be no point bringing him." Severus said logically, but he could see where Sirius was coming from.

"Yes now he isn't, but what happens when he's older and he wants to know why we didn't let him go to his parent's funeral?" Sirius asked, he figured it would be easier to talk Severus around than it would be to talk Remus around; he was so damn stubborn sometimes.

"When he's old enough to understand we can show him the memory in a pensive, going to the funeral isn't going to do him any good Black, we've been over this. It's too much of a security risk, there are too many Death Eaters still at large who want him dead." Severus said, again being the cool and calm logical one whilst Sirius got worked up and angry.

"I thought you gave their names to the Auror department?" Sirius asked as he slumped further into the armchair.

"I did." Severus said, walking back over to his chair and sitting down again, "Lucius Malfoy was caught and is in holding, the latest news I got is that they had managed to capture Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, but Pettigrew is still out there somewhere."

"I still can't believe Peter killed them, he was always the loyal one." Sirius sighed, "I guess we just didn't pay him enough attention, he wasn't as clever as us so we left him out in the dark a lot, I sometimes feel like it's my fault, I should have included him more, teased him less."

"Nothing you could have done would have changed him Sirius, why do you think his animagus form is a rat? He isn't loyal or trustworthy, he picks his friends based on their power, he always wants to be with the coolest, most powerful people. You can't change someone's nature, no matter how hard you try." Severus was sharing more with Sirius than he had with anyone, except for Lily of course, but the more time they spent in this house the more they trusted each other, even if they did annoy the living daylights out of each at times.

"Lily changed your nature." Sirius observed, seeing Severus in a whole new light, "You aren't who you were in high school, you aren't the bitter kid who always wanted to be smarter than anyone else."

"Lily didn't change my nature." Severus said, glancing over at the Gryffindor, "I haven't changed since high school, I've grown up and lost the pointless grudges I held back then, but my nature hasn't changed, this is just the first time you've actually bothered to get to know me."

"I'm sorry you know, for being a dick to you in school." Sirius said honestly, feeling embarrassed as he always did when he apologised, which he did rarely even when he was in the wrong, "I guess the differences between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin seemed like the biggest and most important thing in the world back then."

"I accept your apology, and I apologise too, for being such a slimy git." Severus admitted much to Sirius's amusement as he barked out a laugh, "Well, as enlightening as this conversation has been I'm afraid I have a floo call with Narcissa in 5 minutes." Severus said, standing up for the 2nd time to leave.

"Narcissa? Malfoy?" Sirius asked in shock which of course caused Severus to smirk, "Yes, your old...ah...spark." he said with a chuckle.

"It was one time." Sirius grumbled, "And why are arranging a call with her?" He asked suspiciously.

"We need someone to babysit Harry tomorrow don't we?" Severus said as if this was obvious. Sirius's eyes widened, "She's babysitting Harry?"

"Yes, well she said it shouldn't be an issue, the call is to confirm it. She has a son about Harry's age." Severus said, glancing into the dining room to see if the floo was activated yet.

"Does she?" Sirius asked in surprise, "I didn't know she'd had a son."

"Draco, he's my Godson, he was born at the start of June so he and Harry are about 2 months apart in age. I thought it might do Harry some good to have a friend his age." Severus said and Sirius nodded his agreement, "He's friends with Frank and Alice's son Neville, he was born the day before Harry, Lily and Alice were in St. Mungo's at the same time."

"Frank and Alice...the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff?" Severus asked with another glance at the fireplace.

"Yeah, they were in our year at school." Sirius said casually, "Actually, they'll be at the funeral tomorrow, I wonder who will watch Neville."

"They called their kid Neville?" Severus asked with a snort of amusement, "Do you want me to ask Narcissa if she minds having one more?"

"That would be nice." Sirius said, "I'll floo Frank when you're done and check if they need someone to watch him."

At that point the fire in the dining room came to life and Severus hurried off to it, "Narcissa, good to see you." Severus said with a smile as her face appeared in the fire.

"You too Severus." Narcissa said with a smile, her blonde hair melding with the flames so that it looked like white fire, "Tomorrow is not an issue; I think Draco will enjoy having a little boy his own age to play with."

"That's great; I wondered if you would mind the possibility of looking after another little boy for a few hours? Harry's friend Neville, his parents will be at the funeral too." Severus said in his politest voice.

"That's fine Severus, you know I'd have loved to have more children, but of course that won't happen now." Narcissa said, but the look in her eyes wasn't sadness.

"How are you fairing in that big manor all by yourself?" Severus asked and from where Sirius was eavesdropping he could see that Severus genuinely looked concern.

"Oh I'm okay, I've got Draco to keep me busy, if I'm honest with you Severus it's like I said, I'm thankful for what you did, I didn't want that man bringing my son up, he was so dangerous, I feel relieved more than anything else." Narcissa confessed.

"I know he hit you Narcissa, you deserve better than that." Severus told his friend who smiled, "I know, and thank you Severus, but I always said you deserved better than someone who used you for sex."

"I don't think she did Cissa, I think she felt something for me, but what does it matter now that she's gone?" The question was rhetorical and for a moment Narcissa looked as if she felt bad for bringing it up, "I would have offered to come with you tomorrow for support but somehow I don't think it would look good."

Severus managed a chuckle, "Yes, you're probably right, plus if you came who would we dump all the kids with?" He teased causing Narcissa to laugh, "What time are you bringing Harry around tomorrow?" She asked.

"We'll drop him off at around 9am if that's okay with you." Severus said and Narcissa nodded, "That's not a problem." She looked like she wanted to say more but then her head flicked around causing the flames to turn completely white with her platinum blonde hair, "DRACO! Stop pulling Dobby's ears!"

Severus chuckled as Narcissa turned around and looked exasperated, "Draco doesn't seem to understand the concept of playing with Dobby, he keeps trying to ride him like he's a horse and he pulls his ears to make him go faster, Dobby loves it, he thinks its great fun."

"I can see what you mean about Draco keeping you busy." Severus said with a smile causing Narcissa to roll her eyes, "He's a handful, but I'd best be off Severus, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Enjoy the rest of your night Cissa." Severus said as the fire died out and Narcissa's face faded away.

Severus stood up and stretched to full height before making his way back to the sitting room where Sirius joined him a moment later making it look as if he'd come from the kitchen so Severus didn't realise he'd been eavesdropping, "Have you finished your call?" Sirius asked innocently and Severus fell for it, "Yes, Narcissa said one more shouldn't be an issue if you want to make a call to your friends."

Sirius thanked Severus and made his way to the dining room, he threw some floo powder into the fire and knelt down on the hard concrete floor, he said the address of Frank and Alice's home in Godric Hollow and was greeted with the voice of Frank, "Who is this?"

"Sirius Orion Black." Sirius replied, understanding the security measures, the Order didn't believe that Voldemort was dead, nor did Severus and even Sirius knew that his guess on an issue like that was probably right.

"Prove it." Said the voice.

"Well who else would know that you went through an experimental phase in 5th year Frankie?" Sirius said with a chuckle and instantly the fire flamed up and Franks round shiny face appeared in the fireplace, "You're damn lucky my wife isn't around Sirius."

"You asked me to prove it." Sirius said with a grin and Frank rolled his eyes, "Sorry to hear about James and Lily, we haven't had a chance to speak since it happened, but I expect we'll see each other tomorrow."

"Yes, I expect we will." Sirius said a little sadly.

"How are you and Remus coping?" Frank asked, interpreting the look on Sirius's face, "We're coping okay, having Harry is helping heal the wounds I think."

"Is it true Snape is living with you guys?" Frank asked, craning his head to look around the empty dining room, "And where are you?"

"We're at Potter Manor, Dumbledore wants us to bring Harry up in a friendly, safe, familiar environment and yes, Snape is staying with us, he has a custody claim to Harry, it's too complicated to get into on a Saturday night." He said, but in truth he didn't want to tell Frank about the affair, he knew it would be best if a minimal amount of people knew for the moment, especially since Severus was going to be at the funeral tomorrow.

"If Dumbledore came up with it I expect it is." Frank said, but he knew that Sirius was avoiding telling him for a reason, he hadn't been a Ravenclaw for nothing, "What did you want to talk about anyway?" Frank asked, getting to the point.

"Oh yes, I wondered if you had a babysitter for Neville for tomorrow?" Sirius asked, he knew that both Alice's parents had died in the war and that all Frank had left was his Mother.

"No actually, my Mother is in hospital at the moment, we decided we'd just have to take him with us." Frank said, "Why do you ask?"

"Well you might object to the idea but Harry is being babysat by my cousin Narcissa, her Husband has just been arrested for being a death eater but she didn't exactly have a great life with him, she's a good person and she offered to babysit Neville too." Sirius said, being careful about how he said it.

"Oh, Narcissa, yes." Frank said, frowning a little, "I know exactly how tough she had it with Lucius." He admitted, "I was the one who arrested him, he put up a hell of a fight but he wasn't that great a dueller, Alice had to do after-care because she requested a female had to be the one to do it." Frank looked around and lowered his voice, "You know what that means don't you?"

Sirius nodded sadly, "They only ask for a female when it's domestic or sexual abuse." He said, feeling sorrier for Narcissa than he ever had, he knew she had it bad, it was part of the reason why he met up with her that one time that Remus didn't know about, she had needed someone, that relationship was killing her.

"Yeah, well her case was both." Frank said sadly, "She was forced into the marriage by her parents, it's a really nasty one, Alice has arranged two more after-care meetings and you know how rare that is, she seems to be coping well given everything though."

"Well, do you think she's okay to watch the boys tomorrow given all that's happened?" Sirius asked and Frank nodded, "Oh yeah, she's perfectly fine, mentally intact, the way Alice put it is that she just needs someone to talk too about it all, but she raised her son perfectly well with him around when it was going on so I wouldn't worry about that. I'll just go check with Alice that its okay for Nev to go to Narcissa's tomorrow, give me a minute."

"Sure thing." Sirius said as he watched Frank disappear from the fireplace, he heard the man walk across the floor and run loudly up the stairs, Sirius waited a few moments for him to come back into view.

"That's fine Sirius, Alice says she'll drop Neville off at Potter Manor at 7am, is that okay?" Frank asked when he reappeared.

"No problem Frank, we'll see you tomorrow." Sirius said with a smile.

"Will do, hey Sirius, when you going to come back into work?" Frank asked, almost as if it was an afterthought.

"The boss gave me 2 weeks off in light of everything." Sirius said, "So I'll be back a week on Monday." He told his colleague.

"You're missing all the fun." Frank joked, "So many death eaters, so little time."

Sirius laughed, "I'm sure you can handle it, I'll see you tomorrow Frank."

"Bye Sirius." Frank said with a smile as the green flames died out and turned to ash in the fireplace.

Sirius pulled himself to his feet and made his way to the living room where he was greeted with an amusing sight. Remus had obviously finished bathing Harry and had put his night vest on; as Sirius entered the room Remus appeared and placed the boy in his playpen. Harry was perfectly clean and dry; Remus on the other hand was not.

Severus looked extremely amused and Sirius couldn't blame him, Remus's clothes were completely soaking.

"Who bathed who?" Sirius asked with a grin, "You look like a wet dog Remus." He said with a wink, teasing his friend.

"Shut up Sirius." Remus hissed with a glare that could rival one of Severus's, "I am never bathing him again." He mumbled as he made to flop into the chair.

"Don't sit down, you're still wet." Severus said disapprovingly, showing his childlike Marauder side Remus rolled his eyes and muttered an insult about Severus being a hooked nose greasy git and performed a drying charm before flopping down into the chair and closing his eyes.

Sirius and Severus shared an amused before bursting into laughter and getting glared at by a very pissed off Remus.

**To Be Continued :)**


	6. We've Stepped Into a Cruel World

**Eyes Open**

The morning of the 8th of November was an extremely depressing one. Between them Severus, Sirius and Remus had agreed that getting Harry ready in the morning would be a joint effort. Sirius and Remus had spent most of the night sitting up talking quietly in their room and as Severus had not been able to sleep either he had taken all the letters Lily had written to him that he could find and sat by Harry's cot reading in the light from his wand. As a result when Harry woke up in the morning it made sense for Severus to dress him as he was with him anyway, he didn't object, it gave him something to do.

Once Harry was dressed in relatively nice clothes since he was going to Narcissa's today Severus carried him downstairs and was in the middle of giving him his breakfast when Sirius and Remus emerged in the doorway with dark marks under their eyes as if they had spent a lot of time crying.

"Tough night?" Severus asked as he continued to feed Harry his cereal.

Remus nodded, rubbing his eyes, "Yeah, one of the worst." He admitted and that was saying something for him. That had been one thing that had been good about Severus, he already knew about Remus's 'furry' problem as Sirius called it so Remus hadn't needed to explain that to him.

"And that's saying something." Sirius said as he fell lazily into one of the dining room chairs and clicked his fingers, Velda appeared and took the breakfast order of 3 strong coffees then disappeared again.

"When is it this month?" Severus asked Remus as he fed Harry the last of his cereal and handed him a sippy cup of milk, he only got it twice a day now, in the morning and at night.

"Uhh...it's the 11th." Remus replied, frowning, "Wednesday."

"Probably why you're feeling so rough, and the funeral too of course." Severus said as he sat down next to Remus at the table.

Remus nodded as Velda appeared with their coffees, "Yeah, it certainly isn't helping." He confessed.

"Master Severus, Sirius and Remus." Velda spoke up shyly, catching all 3 men's attention, "Your clothes for today are washed and ironed on your beds."

"Thank you Velda." Sirius said with a smile as the elf bowed and disappeared.

"What time did Alice say she was dropping Neville off?" Remus asked Sirius as he sipped his coffee.

"7am." Sirius replied as he glanced at the clock on the wall, it read 6.30am.

"I suppose we should get dressed then." Remus said sadly, he didn't want too, he knew that after today he would have to really accept that it was real, that he wouldn't see Lily and James again, until now he'd managed to put it off. Dumbledore had arranged the funeral, he and Sirius had helped a little but it was hard too when they were looking after Harry and still reeling from the loss of their friends.

"I'll take Harry." Sirius offered and the three men left their coffees practically untouched as they ascended the stairs to their room to get changed into their robes for the funeral. It didn't take long and when they all met up again in the dining room later the only people who looked different were Sirius and Remus. Severus's black formal robes were very similar to what he normally wore, Sirius smiled weakly and attempted a joke, "Hey Snape, at least everyone will look like you today, look at us, we could be brothers." It was a little bit true, both with shoulder length black hair and in the traditional black robes they looked more similar than usual but Severus was in no mood to joke or laugh and neither was Remus but he knew Sirius was just trying to make today a little less hard than he knew it was going to be on everyone.

The group could contemplate no longer on Sirius's joke as the doorbell rang and Velda answered it, ushering Alice into the entrance hall. Taking a deep breath and composing himself Sirius walked into the room to greet her with a smile, "Alice, hey." He said brightly.

"Hi Sirius." Alice said with a sad smile, she and Lily had been close friends, he knew today would be hard on her, "How you holding up?" Sirius asked her.

Alice sighed, "I miss her, I could talk to her about everything, it feels so horrible knowing I'll never be able to talk to her again." Alice rubbed at her eyes, it was obvious that she had been crying, but grieving or not Alice was still very pretty. She had long dark brown hair that was always extremely straight and she had flawless pale skin and dark blue eyes, Frank had been extremely lucky to have a girl like Alice fall for him. She'd been a Hufflepuff but she had the intelligence of a Ravenclaw and the bravery of a Gryffindor.

"I think today is going to be hard for all of us." Sirius said honestly and Alice nodded sadly. At that moment Harry toddled out of the living room shouting for his 'Siri' and Severus hurried out after him, picking him and tickling him and making him giggle.

"I can think of one person today will be hard for." Alice said quietly as she watched Severus, Sirius frowned, "You know about..." He trailed off and Alice nodded, "I was the only person Lily told about the affair, she really loved him, she was all set on leaving James for him after the war."

"You should probably tell him that if you get a chance." Sirius said in a low tone, "The question of whether or not she did love him has been torturing him all week."

Severus smiled politely and said hello then returned to the living room with Harry and Alice and Sirius could speak in normal tones again, "Since when were you two best friends?" Alice asked, amused by Sirius looking out for the Slytherin.

"We aren't." Sirius assured Alice, "But we live in the same house, it's hard not to get on and he isn't as bad as I thought he was at Hogwarts." Sirius admitted. Alice smiled, "Well I'm glad high school grudges are becoming a thing of the past. I'm going to have to head off Sirius." She said as she handed Neville to him, he had been very quiet since Alice arrived, "He's a really good baby, he shouldn't be too much hassle."

"I'm sure Narcissa will be glad of that, I hear Draco's a handful." Sirius remarked making Alice chuckle, "Yes, he's a funny little boy." She said, "Well, I'll see you later."

"See you there Alice." Sirius said as he let the woman out of the door and shut it behind her. Sirius then smiled down at the boy in his arms, "Hello Neville, ready to go and play with Harry?" He asked as he carried the boy into the living room and put him down next to Harry on the floor. Harry recognised the boy and started to squeal excitedly as he handed Neville one of his toys.

By the time Alice had left it was around 7.30am and Severus didn't have to drop the boys off until 9am, but Sirius and Remus needed to leave early to get the Church ready with Frank and Alice. They were the 4 named on the couples wills as the closest thing to family they had left.

"Come on Sirius." Remus said as he stood up which looked in itself like a struggle, "It's time to go."

"I know." Sirius said from where he was leaning in the doorway watching Neville and Harry playing together. He walked over to Harry and kissed him on the cheek, "Goodbye Harry, you behave for Aunty Cissa." He said quietly. Remus smiled at the exchange and leaned down to kiss the baby, "Be a good boy Harry." He said as he straightened up and offered his arm to Sirius, he accepted Remus's arm and they said a quiet goodbye to Severus then left the house and apparated to the little Church in Godric's hollow.

When the couple walked into the Church it was a sad sight already, the Church was bare and cold, it reminded them what they were there for, but it wasn't like they could forget, they had been dreading this day all week. Sirius sighed as he was summoned by the Vicar.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin." The Vicar greeted politely, "I'm extremely sorry for your loss." He said, both Sirius and Remus just nodded in response to this, "I just have a few questions to ask you with regards to the service."

Remus put a brave face on and nodded, "Of course." He said as he reached behind his back and squeezed Sirius's hand, today was going to be one of the worst days of their life, being beaten only by that night, the night they had seen the cold dead bodies of their friends being taken out of their blown apart house.

* * *

Severus sat and kept watch on Harry and Neville as they played together, it was nice to see Harry sharing his toys, he wasn't a spoiled child as Severus had thought he might be. Already Severus could see much more Lily in the little boy than James, thank riddance for that. He didn't know what to think about today, he had already accepted that Lily was dead so today wasn't the same for him as it was for Sirius and Remus, it felt like the end, like after today the pain might eventually start to dim, although having Harry seemed to be doing that already. He was their little ray of light.

Severus tried to read and entertain himself to pass the time until he had to drop the kids off with Narcissa but by the time the clock chimed 8am he couldn't sit still any longer and decided to go to Malfoy Manor a little early, he hoped Narcissa didn't mind, but he couldn't sit alone without adult company just waiting any longer.

After making the decision to leave early Severus lifted both of the boys up, Neville in one arm and Harry in the other, both of them were holding onto the cuddly toys that they had been playing with. He walked out of the Manor and looked the door; he and Remus had been given the blood permission by Sirius to do so now. When he reached the gates of the Manor he made sure he had a tight grip on both boys and apparated to Malfoy Manor. The gates recognised him and he walked up the gravel path, through the neat gardens, peacocks and all. The Manor was very similar to Potter Manor although possibly not quite as grand as Potter Manor. When he reached the door he rang the bell and was let in by Dobby, the Malfoys elf.

"Good day Mr. Snape." Dobby said with a bow, "Mistress Malfoy has not being expecting you yet."

"I know Dobby, I'm a little early." Severus said, hoping this wouldn't be an issue.

"Don't worry about it Severus." Narcissa said as she appeared at the top of the black marble staircase, "You've seen me worse." She said with a chuckle as she was not yet ready for guests, she was dressed but had no makeup on and had only just brushed her hair by how it looked.

"Nonsense Narcissa." Severus said, "You look lovely." He truly meant that and Narcissa smiled, "You flatter me." She said as she led him into the large living room which was furnished in green and silver, Severus sighed, "Ah, it's so very refreshing to see green again; darned Potter Manor is decorated in the most Gryffindor way you could imagine."

Narcissa chuckled, "Well, there will be a decoration change soon." She said, "This was all Lucius after all."

"The Manor is yours now I presume?" Severus asked as he sat down on the sofa and put the two boys onto the floor, he kept a close eye on them as they crawled over to where Draco was sitting on a baby rug with cuddly toys and little toy broomsticks whizzing around his head.

"Yes, in name anyway, but I don't want it." Narcissa admitted, "I'm thinking about selling it, but I'll need to find somewhere else to go first." She sighed, "I'm entitled to Black Manor but it's dirty and full of dark objects, not to mention completely un-child-proof."

"Don't you have any family left?" Severus asked, he knew how it felt to feel like you were completely alone in the world, he understood that Narcissa wasn't having an easy time.

Narcissa glanced over to where the boys were trying to grab the toy broomsticks from the air, giggling as they attempted to do so, she then turned back to Severus, "My parents are dead, and Lucius and Bellatrix are in Azkaban. All I have left is my older sister Andromeda."

"Why can't you stay with her for a while?" Severus asked, he was being a little nosy but he wanted to look out for her too.

"It's complicated; she married a muggle-born so she was disowned. I haven't seen her since her daughter was born 8 years ago." Narcissa admitted, "I can hardly just waltz back into her life and ask if I can live with her."

"It's not an easy decision, you're right." Severus said, he really felt for her, "But I'm sure you will figure something out."

"I will." Narcissa agreed, managing a small smile, "Are you anxious about today?" She asked, expecting the answer to be yes of course.

"Slightly." Severus replied, "I doubt it can sadden me anymore than her death already has, but it will be no pleasant experience, that's for sure."

Narcissa nodded her understanding and it was when she looked back at him he realised how tired she looked, without makeup her skin was very pale, flawlessly so usually but today she had bags under her eyes, they were small for the moment but Severus could tell that Narcissa had been having trouble sleeping. Narcissa was still extremely conventionally beautiful, as Lily had been. She had long platinum blonde hair which almost glowed and sparkled in the light depending how it shone. She had a very young face and always had done, Severus had often wondered how different she would be if she hadn't been forced into a marriage with a man as evil as Lucius Malfoy.

"The boys shouldn't be too much trouble." Severus informed Narcissa, "Neville seems to be fairly quiet and although Harry is going through a bit of biting phase at the moment he tends to understand when he's not with one of us to behave."

Narcissa smiled, "You're a good Father Severus."

"I'm not his Father Cissa." Severus said, frowning as he looked to Harry who had managed to grab one of the toy brooms and was hitting Draco over the head with it.

"Harry." Severus called, getting the little boys attention; he turned the most innocent gaze on as he looked at Severus, "Stop hitting Draco." Severus said in the strictest voice he could muster, the voice he used with his 1st year students. Testing the waters Harry hit Draco over the head once with the toy and Severus said, "No." This time Harry got the point and dropped the toy. It flew into the air again and Draco caught it, this time proceeding to hit Harry over the head and get his own back. The difference was that while Draco had silently watched Harry as he hit him with the toy Harry burst into tears and called out, "Sevvy! Sevvy!"

"Draco!" Narcissa said in annoyance and amused as she grabbed the little boy, "What have I told you about sharing your toys, no hitting!" Upon being told off by his Mother Draco burst into tears and apparently feeling left out Neville looked between the two and began to cry too.

Severus glanced at the clock on the wall, "Oh, would you look at the time; I'm going to have to head off. Have fun Cissa!" He called as he hurried out the door; the last thing he heard over the crying was Narcissa cursing him.

* * *

When Severus walked from the apparition point to the Church door the wind felt colder than it had for a while. It chilled him to the bone and he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He could see his own breath in the frosty air. There were people all around, apparating in from the 4 designated points. Everyone was wearing black robes and a solemn look on their face; it couldn't have gotten any more depressing unless someone had dropped dead in the middle of it all.

When Severus reached the Church door he found Sirius, Remus, Frank and Alice looking as depressed as he felt. Sirius and Remus were standing on one side of the Church doors with Frank and Alice at the other side as they welcomed the guests.

"Hey." Severus said quietly to the two men when he reached the door.

"Hey." Remus greeted back while Sirius stayed silent, "How are the boys?"

"They seemed to settle fine." Severus said, "I hope they sleep for Narcissa tonight, she looks like she's been struggling to get any sleep at all lately."

"Are you concerned for her?" Remus asked, glancing at Sirius who stood next to him like a statue.

"Yes." Severus admitted, "I don't know the extent of the damage Lucius did to her, both physically and mentally."

The conversation ended at that point as another group of guests arrived and walked toward the Church, this was obviously the group that had come from Hogwarts as it consisted of Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick, Slughorn and Hagrid.

"How are you all doing?" Dumbledore asked in an undertone when he reached the trio.

"We're managing." Remus replied, "Harry is proving to be a very good little boy."

Dumbledore smiled, "I'm glad of it, where is he today?" He asked, glancing around.

"Narcissa kindly offered to watch both Harry and Neville." Severus said to the Headmaster.

"That's fantastic, I'm glad Harry will grow up with some friends." Dumbledore said, he smiled again, almost sadly this time, "I'm sure the service will be lovely."

Severus and Remus nodded, and the group proceeded into the church.

"Sirius, you can't stay silent all day, I know it's hard but you can't just shut everyone out." Remus said to the man next to him.

Sirius sighed, "I'm standing at the doors of a church about to send my best friend off. Do you expect me to fake politeness and happiness? I can't do what you do Remus." He was bitter and angry as he always got when he was sad or struggling to deal with something.

"Black, you aren't the only one who lost someone." Severus said, "I loved Lily, you loved Potter as a brother, Lupin loved them both."

Sirius and Remus were both silent for a moment and Severus chose that moment to take his leave, "I should go and find my seat."

He walked through the oak doors into the crowded little church; he had been allocated a seat in the second row with the rest of the teachers from Hogwarts. Taking a deep breath and swallowing hard Severus sidled along the row and took his seat next to Dumbledore.

The old man smiled sadly at him, "How are you coping Severus, honestly?"

"I'm fine Albus." Severus lied, "I'm not falling apart."

"Perhaps not on the outside." Dumbledore observed which only made Severus angry, "I lost Lily and now all of a sudden I'm one of the biggest role models in her son's life. It isn't the easiest situation to get used to."

"You're right, it isn't, but that doesn't mean you can't do it." Dumbledore said logically, both of them talking in undertones.

"It's going to take time. I don't know how you expect me to live in a house with Black and Lupin in perfect harmony." Severus muttered, showing his annoyance at the man.

"Oh, I never for a moment expected you to live in harmony." Dumbledore said with a smile that made Severus think he knew something that he didn't, which he probably did, "I understand it will take time to work out but I'm sure that all three of you can work through the bumps in the road."

"I don't even care what that means." Severus mumbled as he turned to the front of the Church where the minister was getting ready and where the two coffins sat. The funeral was open-coffin so from where he sat Severus could see Lily, her eyes shut, looking so peaceful. The sight made a lump appear in his throat, he would never see those green eyes again, not on Lily's face anyway because he was aware that Harry had his Mother's eyes. Whenever he looked at the boy he saw Lily, it unnerved him at times.

The room quietened as Sirius, Remus, Alice and Frank walked into the church, all that could be heard was the organ playing quietly in the background. The group took their seats at the front of the church, sitting just in front of Severus. As they looked at the coffins Severus saw Sirius well up, Remus noticed too and placed his hand over Sirius's. Severus suspected that Alice was crying too and being comforted by Frank.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are gathered here today to both mourn the death and celebrate the lives of an extraordinary Witch and Wizard, Lily Evans Potter and James Potter. These two people were taken from us too soon, the last casualties of the greatest war our world has ever seen." As the Vicar spoke Severus glanced around the church, in the front row on the other side of the church a young woman sat alone, Severus recognised her as Petunia, Lily's older sister. She seemed stricken and it looked as if she was struggling to contain her tears, yet Severus knew for a fact that Petunia hadn't spoken to Lily for years. He did know from Dumbledore however that she had helped him to plan her sister's funeral.

"We will now hear from the people who knew Lily and James best, their friends and loved ones." The Vicar said as he moved back and Sirius and Remus stood up. Sirius looked pale as he and Remus walked to the front of the Church to speak.

"As you all know, Sirius and I, along with James called ourselves the Marauders in our days at Hogwarts." Remus said, starting off the speech, "All the teachers in this room will vouch for the fact that we lived up to our name and were always causing mischief and playing pranks." There were some sad smiles around the room as Sirius took over, "James and I met on the train to Hogwarts when we were 11 years old and from then on we were inseparable until that is, James met Lily." Sirius had managed to talk without his voice shaking but Remus now took over again, "When James and Lily first met James was head over heels for her and Lily couldn't stand him." He said with a chuckle, "Yet somehow, after 6 years of constantly asking James finally got the yes he wanted and the rest, as they say is history." Sirius now looked to be struggling, "Lily and James spent their lives dedicated to making the world a safer place for their little boy to grow up in and it seems sad that they had to sacrifice themselves for that to happen, but if we have learned one lesson from their death, its keep your enemies close, but your friends closer." Sirius and Remus took their seats again, Sirius visibly shaking; his face paler than Severus had ever seen it.

Swallowing hard Severus stood up, it was his turn, he wasn't sure what Lily and James friends would think of his speech, but Dumbledore had told him it was a good idea. Taking a deep breath Severus walked to the front of the church and turned to face the families and friends of Lily and James Potter.

"I met Lily when we were young children both living in the Muggle world and she was the best friend that I ever had." Severus began, glad that his voice wasn't shaking, his hands were but he put them behind his back to hide it, "Throughout my school years I didn't have many true friends but Lily was always there when I needed her, no matter how much her friends told her not to be seen with a Slytherin like me, but she never listened. Lily was headstrong, if someone told her to do something she'd do exactly the opposite, she was stubborn and it was for that reason she and her Husband managed to do so much good in the world. Lily taught me how to love and how to live with no regrets, and for that I will always be thankful." Severus finished his speech and walked as calmly as he could back to his seat, it was only when he was seated again that he let out a sigh of relief that it was over and wiped at his eyes in frustration, Severus Snape didn't cry, at least not in public anyway.

Severus didn't get very long to sit and recover because it was then time to take the coffins to the graveyard to be lowered into the ground. Sirius, Remus, Frank and Dumbledore stood to carry James funeral, they lifted it into the air and waited for Severus, Alice, Petunia and McGonagall took Lily's coffins. The funeral was a mixture of Wizarding and Muggle traditions, in Wizarding funerals women were allowed to be pallbearers which they weren't in Muggle funerals. The two coffins were carried out into the graveyard and the guests stood up to follow. The short walk from the church to the plot where Lily and James would be buried next to each other seemed to last forever. When they reached the plot the coffins were charmed so that they levitated above the pits in the ground and everyone took their place around the plot.

The Vicar began to speak again, "Let us commend Lily and James to the mercy of God. We therefore commit their bodies to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life."

The coffins were then lowered slowly into the ground and for the first time it seemed a lot more real to Severus, he felt something wet on his face and realised he must be crying but he didn't care, he just watched the coffin as it sunk further and further out of sight. Similarly Sirius and Remus had given up on faking happiness or politeness or any pretences. They were both crying and holding hands as they watched their friend's coffins being lowered into the ground. When the coffins finally reached the bottom of the pit Sirius and Remus walked forward first and using their wands sprinkled some dirt onto the coffin. Severus, Alice and Petunia then did the same for Lily and stepped back to look at the plot one last time. Dumbledore then stepped forward and with two quick charms the dirt was filled back into the graves and Lily and James were underground.

The guests all began to move away from the graves and in an unspoken agreement Severus, Sirius and Remus made up the rear, they didn't speak at all as they walked through the graveyard, past the Church and to one of the 4 apparition points. The group then all apparated back to Potter Manor where the house elves had prepared a cold buffet and had cleaned the drawing room.

When they entered the room they split up, Sirius went straight to the open bar that they had set up and got himself the strongest firewhiskey available. Remus mumbled something about talking to the guests and mingling, and Severus got himself a strong drink and found the most isolated seat in the darkness corner of the room so he could meld into the walls.

Lily was really gone, he had to accept that now whether he liked it or not. The funeral had hit him harder than he thought it would, he had expected it to be difficult but not to the extent that it had turned out to be. He sighed as he watched the couple's friends milling about the room, talking to each other and drinking. That was his plan to cope with this sudden overwhelming grief, he should have seen it coming really, he had been coping well, almost too well, he should have known it was too good to be true. The funeral had brought everything home for him, he felt like he had a hole where his heart should be, a gaping, icy hole that could never be filled. Severus could think of only one way to stop the hurt and the pain, and it was called firewhiskey.

**To be continued!**


	7. Everybody Stands & Keeps Score

**Eyes Open**

Narcissa Malfoy's day had been rather ordinary, yet extremely enjoyable. Once her son came to terms with the idea that he would have to share his toys he seemed to get on remarkably well with Harry and Neville and it had been so nice for him to have two boys his own age to play with, truthfully it had done both her and Draco some good. All three boys had gone down at night easily and without a fuss, she had put them all in Draco's room, Neville and Harry sharing the travel cot Severus had brought around. It was the first time in a long time that Draco had gone down for the night and hadn't cried at all. Narcissa was so surprised that she had time to herself that she didn't quite know how to spend it, she had realised just how tired she really was and had ended up going to bed at 9pm.

When Narcissa was awoken by Dobby she felt both refreshed for the sleep and extremely sleepy at the same time for having some sleep. Dobby informed her that someone was at the door; she glanced at the clock on the wall, wondering who would turn up on her doorstep at 3am in the morning. All the same Narcissa made her way down the stairs in her full-length, white silk nightgown and allowed Dobby to open the door for her.

To say Narcissa was surprised when Severus Snape practically fell through the doorway was an understatement.

"Narcissa!" Severus greeted loudly as he stumbled over to her with a freakish grin on his face.

"Severus, shh!" Narcissa scolded him quietly, "You'll wake the boys." She rolled her eyes as she dragged the drunken man into the living room and sat him down on the couch. It was only when she got him into the living room that she saw the damage on his face, the entrance hall was very badly lit and it was pitch dark outside. Narcissa gasped, Severus looked as if he had been beaten up, he had an angry open cut down the right side of his face and his lip was burst and bleeding.

"Severus, what happened to you?" Narcissa asked quietly as she conjured up a damp cloth.

"Black." Severus managed to say without slurring and even in his drunken state he managed to say the name bitterly and with an angry glint in his eyes. Narcissa sighed and pushed his hair back out of his face as she began to dab at the cut, Severus didn't even flinch, the alcohol probably numbed the pain.

"God Severus, you stink of whisky." Narcissa said, turning her nose up, "How much have you had to drink?"

Severus didn't seem to hear the question; he just stared at her and slurred, "You have beautiful blue eyes Narcissa, so bluetiful."

It was that comment that made Narcissa less annoyed and more amused at the man, "Well thank you Severus." She said as she asked Dobby to get some water for him. She dabbed the last of the blood away and used a charm to seal the wound, she then dabbed his burst lip and did the same, making Severus flinch just a little, "Are you going to kiss it better?" He asked hopefully and Narcissa was both amused and honoured by this behaviour, "No Severus, I'm sure you'll survive."

"You have such lovely white hair, so shiny and sparkly, and so soft." Severus said as he stroked Narcissa's hair, "That's lovely Severus." Narcissa said as Dobby returned with the water.

"Why don't you drink this?" She suggested as she held the water to his lips and helped him to drink some of it.

"You're so kind Narcissa." Severus said as he grinned goofily at her, "Do you know I love you?"

"I'm sure you do." Narcissa said dryly as she forced Severus to drink more water then turned to Dobby, "Can you get some sobering up potion and a few blankets please Dobby?"

"Yes Mistress." Dobby said as he disappeared for the second time.

"Now Severus, I think you need to go to bed." Narcissa said to the man who raised his eyebrows at her and asked, "Are you coming too?"

Narcissa laughed, "No, I'm afraid not, not with you in this state anyway." She said as she handed him the water to finish. The sight actually amused her, she was so used to seeing Severus cool and calm, she'd never seen him completely lose his temper or completely drunk as he was now. She knew what the trigger was of course, Lily's funeral must have been hard for him, and like a typical man alcohol was his coping mechanism.

"I don't want to go to bed." Severus objected as he crossed his arms like a child, "I don't want to go to sleep alone, I don't like it."

"Well Severus I'm afraid you don't have any choice." Narcissa said, a little sadly because she imagined he was thinking of Lily.

"It's cold and lonely." Severus said, his eyes welling up with tears, "I miss her."

Narcissa sighed and told Severus to scoot over so she could sit next to him on the sofa, "I know Severus, I'm sorry." She said as she hugged her friend. Severus hugged her back and they were quiet for a little while until Dobby reappeared. Narcissa told Severus to take the potion and he did as he was told. It was when she covered him up in blankets and was about to leave that he objected again.

"No, please don't leave me. I don't want to be alone, not tonight." Severus said and he looked so sad and vulnerable that Narcissa couldn't walk away and leave him there alone so she lay down next to him on the sofa and let him bury his head in her hair. He sighed in contentment, "Thank you." He mumbled.

"That's okay." Narcissa said back, she smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, she knew he was drunk and probably wouldn't remember this in the morning but it felt nice to be held by a man again, even if it was just a friend.

"You're always here for me." Severus said as the potion began to take effect and make him sleepy so it could get the alcohol out of his system.

"Always." Narcissa reiterated, feeling something she hadn't felt for a long time in the pit of her stomach.

"Mmm." Severus sighed in contentment as he began to drift off, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Severus, sleep well." Narcissa said, running her fingers through his hair, it wasn't greasy as everyone thought it was, it was very soft and smooth.

"I love you Lily." Severus mumbled as his last words before sleep took over, the words made Narcissa's hand freeze in mid air and her stomach to tie itself up in knots, he thought she was Lily, of course he did. Narcissa carefully extracted herself from Severus's arms and made her way back upstairs, but she didn't go to her bed again that night, she sat in Draco's room and watched the 3 little boys sleeping, not knowing how much of an influence she was going to have in their lives.

* * *

When Severus Snape woke up it was to strange sounds and sensations. He felt like a banshee was screaming in his head, the sounds around him were fuzzy and difficult to make out but so damned loud and his face felt...wet. Severus groaned and opened his eyes slowly, his eyelids felt so heavy that it was a struggle. When the room stopped spinning and came into focus Severus realised that the wetness was the drool of not one, not two, but three little boys and all three boys were giggling.

"SEVVY!" Harry screeched when he saw that Severus had opened his eyes, "SEVVY!" Draco copied, poking Severus in the eye, not to be left out Neville followed suit with a "SEVVY!" and a poke to Severus's other eye.

"Ow" Severus mumbled as he sat up carefully so as not to knock the boys flying, his head spun and he felt sick but then the room came into focus again and Severus saw an amused and exasperated Narcissa leaning in the doorway.

"Good morning Severus." Narcissa said as she handed him a potion to help with his hangover and a glass of water, "Morning, oh Cissa, you're an angel." Severus said gratefully as he swallowed the potion and downed the glass of water in one go.

"How much did you drink last night?" Narcissa asked as she lifted the boys from Severus's chest and put them on the floor where all the toys where.

"I'd tell you if I could remember." Severus said honestly, his head was pounding and the last thing he remembered he was the wake ending and he, Sirius and Remus sitting in silence in the living room drinking firewhiskey.

"How did I get here?" Severus asked Narcissa who shook her head, "I've no idea, I assume you apparated and if so you were lucky not to be splinched with the state you were in last night."

Severus cringed, "I'm sorry Narcissa." He said, but she only smiled, "It's okay, I understand that yesterday wasn't easy for you."

Severus nodded, grateful that the potion seemed to be working so quickly, it was then Severus yawned and realised his face hurt, he hissed in pain and felt his face, feeling the cut down the size on his face and the burst lip, "Ouch."

"I did the best I could last night." Narcissa admitted, "You were covered in blood when you came in. What on earth happened?" She asked curiously.

"I wish I knew." Severus admitted, hissing in pain again as he tried to move, his back was aching.

"All you said to me last night was that it had something to do with Black." Narcissa said as she sat down on the floor with the boys and enchanted the little toy broomsticks again so they zoomed in circles around them, "I assume by that you meant Sirius."

"Likely." Severus said darkly, "The funeral caused us to drink more firewhiskey than we should have." He confessed, "That potion is fantastic Narcissa, my headache is gone already."

"You brewed it Severus." Narcissa said with a chuckle, "It's the last of the bottle you made for me for my birthday."

Severus raised his eyebrow at the woman, "You went through that whole bottle in a year?" He asked and she shrugged, the light-hearted mood gone briefly, "It hasn't been an easy year."

"I know Narcissa, I'm sorry, that was foolish of me to say." Severus said, feeling guilty immediately, but Narcissa shook her head, "Don't be silly." She said, "Would you like some breakfast? The boys and I are already fed."

Severus shook his head, "No thank you, I'm not very hungry."

"I'm not surprised." Narcissa said with a smirk.

"How bad was I last night?" Severus asked, dreading the answer, but he had already gotten the impression that the answer was bad.

"I've never seen you drunk so I have nothing to compare it too, but you were slurring and saying some nonsense." Narcissa said, feeling a little awkward for the first time in the conversation.

"Anything embarrassing?" Severus asked, watching Narcissa closely. The blonde woman smiled and shook her head, "No." She lied, "Just some nonsense."

"Well that's a small reassurance." Severus said with a sigh of relief, leaning back and closing his eyes as he started to get some blurry memories of the night before coming back to him, "Narcissa..." He said slowly.

"Yes?" Narcissa said from her spot on the floor playing with the boys.

"I didn't...you know...try anything last night, did I?" Severus asked rather awkwardly.

"No Severus." Narcissa said, forcing a smile, "Like I said, you just talked some nonsense, you were confused about where you were, I couldn't make most of it out."

Severus merely nodded and closed his eyes again, why had he been beaten up by Black? He thought hard and focused, trying to force the memories from the night before to the front of his mind with occlumency.

_**Severus, Sirius and Remus's silence was broken when the group finally got drunk enough to let go of any previous inhibitions, they just wanted to talk so that they couldn't think, whenever Severus tried to force his thoughts away from Lily they seemed to focus on her with a vengeance.**_

"_**Why don't we get to know each other better?" Remus said brightly, he was the lightweight, Severus had spent too long drinking his sorrows away to get drunk easily and Sirius had always been able to hold his liquor. **_

"_**Get to know each other?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow, he had been drinking for much longer than Remus and was certainly tipsy, "I think I know you extremely well Remus." **_

_**Severus made a face, "That is disgusting Black." He muttered but Sirius only stuck his tongue out at the Slytherin.**_

_**Remus rolled his eyes, "I mean we should get to know Severus and he should get to know us." **_

"_**And how do you suggest we do that?" Severus asked sceptically.**_

"_**Well, we can take it in turn to ask questions!" Remus said with a smile like this was a genius idea, he was way too happy for someone whose best friends had just been buried.**_

"_**Fine." Severus said dryly, looking to Remus to ask the first question, Sirius seemed to be doing the same thing, it had been his idea after all.**_

"_**Right, so, um, who was your first kiss with?" Remus eventually asked, looking to Sirius first who bit his lip and answered, "Um...James."**_

"_**WHAT?" Remus asked, his eyes widening, "Our James?"**_

_**Sirius nodded, "We were like 13 okay!" He said in his defence, "We were just...you know...experimenting."**_

_**Severus sniggered, "That's the excuse you used with Frank too." He muttered.**_

"_**I can't believe you kissed James and never told me." Remus said, although more amused than angry, "I always thought you two spent way too much time together."**_

_**Sirius's cheeks were a little red, "Whatever, how about yours then Remus?"**_

_**Remus blushed a little, "Lily." He admitted, "It was in 2**__**nd**__** year, I had a bit of a crush on her." **_

"_**Ooh!" Sirius gasped, "I bet James didn't know about that one." He said with a chuckle, Remus nodded, "No he knew, Lily told him, safe to say he was not happy with me!"**_

"_**So Snivellus, who was yours?" Sirius asked, turning to Severus and using the old nickname, almost affectionately.**_

"_**Lily." Severus said a little sadly, "In 1**__**st**__** year, before we started to drift apart because of the house divide."**_

_**Remus could tell that the atmosphere had gotten a little sadder so he turned on Sirius, "Your turn to think of a question."**_

_**Sirius got a dirty grin on his face, "Alright, lets dive right into the dirty stuff, biggest sexual fantasy." He looked to Remus whose face was already red, "You first Remy."**_

_**Remus groaned, wondering why he had decided to play this game and mumbled, "Me and you, animagus forms."**_

_**Sirius barked out a laugh and gave Remus a look that Severus didn't even want to try and interpret.**_

"_**Sevvy, what's yours?" Sirius asked, having way too much fun with this as he turned on the man.**_

_**Severus rolled his eyes, "Lily and Narcissa." He said simply, Sirius gave a nod of approval and then appeared to be deep in thought about his answer, "Well, I'll have to agree with Remus." He said with a wink, "Full moon on Wednesday." **_

_**Severus made a wretching noise, "I can handle the couple thing, but there are some images I never want in my head, that is one of them." He said dryly which only made Remus and Sirius laugh. Sirius then prompted Severus to come up with a question. **_

"_**Who is the most embarrassing person you've slept with?" Severus asked, looking to Sirius first.**_

_**Sirius groaned, glancing at Remus, "Andromeda." He admitted.**_

"_**She's your cousin Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, causing Sirius to groan, "I know but she's seriously hot!"**_

"_**Isn't she like 6 years older than you?" Severus asked with a raised eyebrow, Sirius blushed a little, "Yeah."**_

"_**When was this?" Remus asked with narrowed eyes.**_

"_**Um, I was in 4**__**th**__** year." Sirius said awkwardly, avoiding Remus's gaze.**_

"_**Oh dear." Severus muttered, "Well, everyone always did say the Blacks were incestuous."**_

"_**Shut up Snivellus." Sirius bit back at the man who then looked to Remus, "Well Lupin, spill."**_

_**Remus looked very awkward, "Well, Sirius, promise not to be mad." He said and Sirius laughed, "Come on Remus, it can't be that bad."**_

_**Remus swallowed, "Well, do you remember that weekend you went away to France on your first big Auror trip?"**_

"_**Yes..." Sirius said slowly, wondering where this was going.**_

"_**And you remember that was the weekend Lily and James had their biggest fight ever?" Remus asked, making Sirius even more suspicious, "Yes..."**_

"_**Well, Lily left and said she was spending the weekend at Alice's to calm down and James was a bit of a mess so I spent the weekend there to comfort him and we got a bit carried away with the firewhiskey." Remus said very quietly, looking at Sirius anxiously.**_

"_**You slept with James?" Sirius asked, gaping at the man, "YOU slept with James? When he was with Lily?"**_

"_**Yeah, just once." Remus said, feeling extremely awkward.**_

"_**Seriously?" Severus asked.**_

"_**Seriously." Remus said.**_

"_**Seriously?" Asked Sirius seriously.**_

"_**Seriously!" Remus said finally, glaring at them both.**_

"_**Wow, well, I didn't expect that one." Sirius admitted and Severus smiled, "Although I will confess I feel much better about sleeping with Lily repetitively that weekend now."**_

_**The room was quiet for a moment as all came to terms with that statement.**_

"_**So, first crush?" Remus asked, looking first to Severus who rolled his eyes, "Lily, obviously." He dead panned.**_

"_**God, I can't remember." Sirius said as he frowned and tried to think, "I think it was Dromeda, I remember her coming round at Christmas and being the wild child, I always had a bit of a thing for her."**_

_**Remus coughed, "Well, um, mine was actually Severus." He admitted plunging the room into silence.**_

"_**WHAT?" Severus and Sirius responded at the same time, a moment after Remus's confession.**_

"_**You liked HIM before you liked me?"**_

"_**Hey! Whats wrong with me Black?"**_

"_**Oh, apart from the massive nose and the greasy hair?"**_

"_**You should learn to shut your mouth!"**_

"_**You should learn to use shampoo!"**_

_**Remus stared at the two men in horror, how could they go to war over such a small comment? Much worse had been said before. Yet both Sirius and Severus were on their feet staring each other down.**_

"_**You disgust me you know Snape." Sirius said in a low, dangerous voice, "What you did to Lily, corrupting her like that just so you could have her instead of James."**_

"_**Corrupting her? Black I didn't do anything to her; she never loved Potter the way she used to love me." Severus said, raising his voice.**_

"_**Then why did she marry James and not you huh? If she loved you so much why did she have a baby with James and not you?" Sirius asked, baiting him, a sick smug grin on his face at the pang of hurt that flickered in Severus's eyes.**_

"_**Well if you love Lupin so much why did you sleep with anything that moved through the first two years of your relationship?" Severus bit back.**_

"_**You're just jealous that I can get anyone to sleep with me Snape."**_

"_**Why would I be jealous of a pathetic player who uses sex as a way to find comfort in his sad life?"**_

"_**At least I CAN do that. Who would sleep with you?"**_

"_**You're best friend's wife apparently!"**_

"_**You bastard!"**_

_**Apparently forgetting that they were Wizards and that they had wands the two men threw themselves at each other and began to scratch and punch, shouting insults all the while. Remus cursed to himself and ran forward to pull them apart, the result of his attempt was that both men hit him at the same time, pushing him back and knocking him out.**_

_**Severus managed to get on his feet; he glared at Sirius and stormed out of the house.**_

Severus groaned, he still couldn't remember getting here or being here but he assumed that was because that was when he was at his most drunk. The fight had come back to him though, very vividly.

"Are you alright Severus?" Narcissa asked from the floor, Severus found the sight a very charming one, she was lying on her front playing with a toy ball, she would throw it to each of the boys and they would throw it back, it was incredibly sweet.

"I'm fine; I just started to remember bits from last night." Severus admitted, "I remember why I fought with Black."

"And? Was it for a good reason?" Narcissa asked, but before Severus could answer Draco threw the soft ball at Narcissa and it hit her on the side of the head as she hadn't been watching.

"Draco, don't hit Mummy." Narcissa said in a semi-scolding, semi-amused way.

Draco just giggled and attempted to look innocent. Smiling Narcissa threw the ball back and hit Draco on the head with it. The little boy frowned, "Bad Mama!" He shouted.

Severus sniggered at this and Narcissa smiled, "I'm sorry Draco, Mummy didn't mean it."

Narcissa stood up and left the boys to their own devices, she sat down at the end of the sofa and asked Severus, "So? What was the reason for the fight?"

"Lupin suggested we ask each other questions to get to know each other." Severus said, rolling his eyes, "Which is extremely immature I know, but we had consumed a large amount of firewhiskey by this point." Narcissa chuckled and Severus continued, "We asked a couple of novelty questions and then the 'who was your first crush?' question came up and Lupins answer was me." Narcissa gasped and laughed, "Well, I wouldn't have expected that."

Severus nodded, "I didn't either and neither did Black apparently because he went crazy on me and then somehow the argument became about how I'd corrupted Lily and made her into a dirty cheater and it eventually escalated into violence."

Narcissa shook her head disapprovingly, "That is why two men who hated each other a week ago shouldn't get drunk together and try and get to know each other." She said in amusement.

"Tell me about it." Severus mumbled as he sat up and stretched, he felt much better than he had when he first woke up, "Well, I suppose I should be getting the boys home now, Black told Frank and Alice that we'd have Neville home by lunchtime."

Narcissa nodded, "One condition." She said, "I'm apparating the boys back, I don't trust you to do it after the amount you were drinking last night."

Severus nodded, "That is a very sensible and reasonable idea." He said with a chuckle as Narcissa picked the boys up and made her way to the door. Severus followed her a little gingerly and for the first time felt a little nervous about going back to Potter Manor, he had the feeling that Sirius and Remus weren't going to be in the greatest of moods with him.

**To be continued!**


	8. Everybody's Waiting for You to Breakdown

**Eyes Open**

When Severus and Narcissa reached the gates of Potter Manor Severus took a breath to calm himself and offered to take Harry and Neville from Narcissa as although she was tall she was very thin and he knew that carrying three one year olds wasn't easy for her. The duo walked up the path together and Severus placed his hand on the door to open it. He walked gingerly through the door, feeling like he was doing the 6am walk of shame, even though it was easily past 10am. The second that the doors shut behind Narcissa was when the chaos started.

"He's back!" Sirius called, walking into the entrance looking a lot worse than Severus, which made the Slytherin smug for a brief moment.

"Bastard!" Sirius shouted at Severus who rolled his eyes, he should have known Sirius would be immature about the night before, he wouldn't be a man and get over it as he and Remus would.

"Bastard!" Harry said, copying his Godfather, "Harry Potter!" Severus scolded, "No!"

Harry made a face and then quieted down, "Get over it Black." Severus said as he took the boys into the living room and popped them in Harry's playpen, Narcissa followed and put Draco down with the other two boys.

"You are such a mess Sirius." Narcissa said in her motherly way, she pushed her cousin onto the sofa and conjured up a cloth and a bucket.

"I'm fine Narcissa." Sirius said as he glared at her, but she just gave him a stern look, "Stay still and stop being stupid." She said simply as she wiped the dry blood from his face and with a few swishes of her wand managed to return his face to normality, minus a couple of pale lines where Severus had clawed him, another couple of swishes vanished the bruises.

"Thanks." Sirius mumbled grudgingly.

"You two both need to apologise, you both drank too much last night, you didn't mean what you said." Narcissa said logically, playing the role of the peacemaker since Remus wasn't around.

"Yes I did!" Both men said at the same time, they were silent for a moment and then glared at each other. Narcissa sighed, "Are we back in Hogwarts boys?" She asked jokingly.

"He started it." Sirius mumbled as he glared at the Slytherin.

"Technically, Lupin started it." Severus corrected, glancing around and asking, "Where _is_ Lupin?"

"I'm here."

The voice made Sirius and Severus spin around and they both winced, Remus had two black eyes, clearly one from each man.

"Shit, Remus, I'm sorry." Sirius said, looking as guilty as Severus felt.

"I'm sorry too Lupin, last night was stupid." Severus said in one of his rare apologies.

"Yes, it was stupid." Remus said, angry with them both, "There was no cause for it, I just wanted us to try and get on and be able to laugh together, but you couldn't even manage that without trying to kill each other. Are you men or children?" He asked as he walked away from the room.

Narcissa gave both the men reprimanding looks, "If you'll excuse me I'm going to see to Lupin." She gave them both more dirty looks. She followed Remus into the library and smiled at him, "Do you want me to have a look at those bruises?" She asked.

Remus was a little unsure of himself at first, he'd never met this woman before and he knew she'd been married to a death eater, but Sirius and Severus both seemed to like and trust her so he nodded, "I'd appreciate that."

Narcissa pulled a chair over and sat across from him, she winced when she saw just how bad his two black eyes were, "Close your eyes." She instructed as she carefully cast a few spells to remove the bruising, "You can open them now." She said, conjuring a mirror and asking if that was better. Remus nodded, "Thank you, you're very good at medical charms."

Narcissa shrugged, "Just the basics, I suppose it's a perk of being married to a death eater." She joked.

"You shouldn't joke about that." Remus said sadly, Narcissa just smiled, "I find joking about things is the best way to deal with them."

"It must be a trait of the Black family." Remus said causing Narcissa to laugh, "Likely." She said, "I know they were both idiots last night, but I also know that they are both sorry."

Remus nodded, "I guess sometimes I just like to give Sirius a hard time, just to prove I'm not a complete pushover."

"I understand that." Narcissa said honestly, "But I managed to forgive Severus and he told me he loved me then called me Lily last night." She said with a chuckle.

"Is this another moment of you laughing about it because it hurt you?" Remus asked, watching her carefully. Narcissa smiled genuinely at him, "No, not this time. Severus is a very good friend, but I think he will forever love Lily."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Remus said thoughtfully, "He seems to be rather taken with you."

Narcissa stood from her chair and shrugged, "The love of his life was buried yesterday, I don't want to be the woman he 'falls' for to fill that gap." She said with a smile, "Thank you for this conversation."

"No, thank you." Remus said with a matching smile as Narcissa left the room to see how Severus and Sirius were getting on in the living room. When she walked back into the room it was to see the two men sitting in separate armchairs not looking at each other.

"Oh, come on." Narcissa said as she sat down on the sofa opposite the two men, "You need to talk. Remus won't make up with you until you make up with Severus." She said, fibbing a little to encourage the two men to stop acting like little children.

Severus sighed, "Black, I apologise for fighting with you last night, but we are still being forced to live in this house together with Harry so can we please at least attempt to get on?"

Sirius glared at Severus, "Fine." He agreed grumpily, "But only because I don't like it when Remus is mad at me."

"Shake hands." Narcissa demanded and Sirius rolled his eyes, "Jesus woman, do you want us to make an unbreakable vow as well." He joked as he reached out his hand to Severus, the Slytherin took it and they shook quickly then dropped their hands.

Narcissa smiled, seemingly quite pleased with herself, "My work here is done." She joked as she lifted Draco out of the playpen, "And now I need to get back to the Manor, someone is coming to value it for me."

"You're going through with it?" Severus asked in surprise, he hadn't suspected that she would, not this soon anyway. Narcissa nodded, "Oh yes, I'm definitely selling it, I'm not sure when yet, but I won't stay there any longer than I need too."

Severus nodded, he understood that, "Who do you think will buy it?" He asked, he knew the Manor would be expensive.

"The Ministry I expect." Sirius piped up, "They are in desperate need of places that big for new orphanages after the war, and nobody knows how much money they have to blow."

"I expect you're probably right." Narcissa said to Sirius, "But in all honesty I don't care who buys the place as long as I don't need to live there."

"Do you know where you are going to go yet?" Severus asked, and Narcissa sighed and shook her head, "No, I don't believe Andromeda will take too kindly to me turning up on her doorstep after 8 years.

Sirius chuckled, "No, I don't believe she would." He agreed, "You know there is Black Manor? Technically I own it but you can stay there if you'd like."

Narcissa wrinkled her nose, "I appreciate the offer Sirius, but it's no place to bring a child up."

"Yes, that is very true." Sirius agreed as he made a face, he hated that place.

"Like I said before Severus, I'll figure something out; the money I get from selling the Manor should be more than enough to find somewhere suitable for Draco and I." Narcissa said with a smile.

"Well good luck." Sirius said smiling at his cousin; he actually got on alright with her now she wasn't being controlled by her death eater Husband.

Narcissa thanked him and was about to walk out of the door when she was stopped by a shout.

"DWACO!"

Narcissa turned to see that Harry had somehow managed to magic himself out of the playpen and was standing by her leg crying.

"HAWWY!" Draco called out, and he started to cry too. Back in the playpen Neville was too busy trying to eat one of Harry's cuddly toys to notice what was going on.

Severus walked over to Narcissa and picked up Harry, it stopped him crying and Draco stopped when Harry stopped, "I think they're going to miss each other." He said.

Narcissa smiled, "That's sweet. Why don't we arrange a playdate weekly so that they can see each other?"

"That's a good idea." Severus agreed, "How is Saturday? I need to go back to work tomorrow so I'll be looking after Harry on weekends."

"Saturday is perfect." Narcissa said, "Come by at 10am."

"Sure." Severus said, "See you then." With that Narcissa left the room and the Manor and Sirius smiled a little, it looked like Severus could be happy again soon, he would never admit it to the man but his 'love story' with Lily was incredibly sad and as much as he disliked the man he didn't get pleasure out of seeing him miserable, not anymore anyway.

Severus put Harry back in the playpen and sat down in the armchair, feeling a little ill again from the night before now that he had stopped being so busy with Harry.

"I suppose I should Neville back to Frank and Alice." Sirius said as he stretched and yawned.

"That is probably a good idea." Severus said, glancing over to where the two boys were playing together. Sirius stood up and changed his clothes with magic, Severus rolled his eyes, he could be disgusting sometimes.

"I'll try my best not to sleep with Lupin when you're out." Severus joked dryly causing Sirius to glare at him.

"Too soon?" Severus asked, Sirius didn't reply as he walked over to the playpen and lifted Neville out of it, he gently took the cuddly toy off of him and after a drying charm put it back in Harry's playpen. When Sirius turned around again he said to Severus, "It took me a long time to tell him how I felt and it took him an even longer time to tell me he felt the same. I don't want to lose him now, so I suppose I am more paranoid than I ought to be."

Severus merely nodded; sometimes he underestimated what was between Sirius and Remus, "I'm sorry." He said simply.

"Thank you." Sirius said, "I shouldn't be too long, but I'm going to Honeydukes after I've dropped him off to get some apology chocolate for Remus. Do you want anything?"

"Well if you're offering, some blood drops would be nice." Severus said causing Sirius to roll his eyes, "See you could never be with Remus anyway, a vampire and a werewolf would never work out."

Severus chuckled as he heard Sirius leave the house and the oak doors slam shut for a second time. In a way the fight the night before seemed to have made he and Sirius closer, it was as if they had exploded and 7 years of bottled up anger had all come out in one night, Severus definitely felt lighter for it.

"You don't really want to sleep with me, do you?" Remus asked as he walked into the room looking sheepish.

"You're not really offering, are you?" Severus asked in amusement. The werewolf chuckled, "No, I'm not. I did overhear your conversation with Sirius though, I feel guilty now."

"I wouldn't." Severus said, "I think you probably needed it as much as he did, you wouldn't be a couple if you didn't fight."

"Hmm." Remus mused, "Did you and Lily fight?" He asked.

Severus paused before answering, "Rarely." He replied, he remembered the biggest fight they had ever had; it had almost torn them apart.

_**Severus and Lily had met in their designated meeting area, this time a Muggle Motel. Lily smiled when she walked over to Severus, "Hey stranger." **_

_**Severus chuckled, "Hi." He said as she took her seat across from in the dark dingy place.**_

"_**Any new information?" Lily asked as she glanced around, as an unspeakable she couldn't be seen by anyone who knew she was affiliated with the ministry in Britain, hence the reason for most of these meetings being in America.**_

"_**Nothing vital." Severus admitted, "The dementors are involved now, they had no issues with joining him as long as they got to feed on miserable people." **_

"_**Figures." Lily said sadly, "What about the giants?"**_

"_**That's the other thing, he's in negotiation with them as we speak, by my reckoning they'll be killing for him within a week." Severus said, he hated to be the bearer of bad news.**_

"_**Dumbledore thought as much." Lily said, but this was only the information that she needed to pass on to the order, they hadn't even started on the unspeakable business yet, for Severus was also an unspeakable, hence the reason for their rekindling and the origins of the affair, only Severus as a death eater, couldn't be seen to be going in and out of the ministry so Lily was his link into the place.**_

"_**Operation Megalomaniac is going much better you'll be glad to hear." Severus informed Lily who smiled, "Good, what've you got?"**_

_**Severus smiled, seeing her smile made a smile come to his face, "Well I've discovered that he's a half-blood, Muggle Father and Witch Mother." Severus began, "He grew up in an orphanage, his Mother charmed the Muggle somehow to make him fall in love with her and she got pregnant, had the baby, then dumped him at the orphanage and died." **_

"_**Well that explains a lot." Lily said logically, "Children who grow up without parents or set authority figures tend to have mental problems in the future. Do you know anything about his Hogwarts days yet?" **_

_**Severus shook his head, "That's my next aim; I should have something for you next week."**_

_**Lily looked down for a moment, frowning, "You won't see me next week Severus, someone else will be coming in my place for a while."**_

"_**Why?" Severus asked suspiciously, "Did someone in the department find out about us?" **_

_**Lily shook her head, "Let's not talk about this here." She said with a sigh, she stood up and began to walk up the stairs to the room she had been booked into for the night, Severus followed her into the room but she didn't speak to him or even look at him until the door had been shut and locked the muffliato charm had been cast on the door.**_

"_**What's wrong Lily?" Severus asked, he was worried now, she never usually acted this way.**_

"_**Severus, I can't continue meeting with you, it's too risky." Lily explained, looking down and not meeting his gaze.**_

"_**It has always been risky Lily." Severus said with a frown, he didn't understand, "Why would you stop now?"**_

_**Lily sat down on the edge of the bed and pressed her head into her hands, she groaned and looked up, "I'm pregnant Severus."**_

_**Severus had been walking towards her but this statement made him stop in his tracks, "You're...what?" He asked quietly.**_

"_**Pregnant." Lily said again quietly.**_

"_**This changes everything Lily." Severus said, sitting down next to her on the bed. They were both silent for a moment, "Do you know...whose baby it is?"**_

"_**Of course I know." Lily said, raising her voice a little, "Its James's."**_

"_**Why are you so certain?" He asked with a frown, "We sleep together once a week."**_

"_**And we're always protected." Lily added, looking pointedly at him.**_

"_**And you and James aren't?" Severus asked, he was sure she'd said they were because he knew she didn't want a baby.**_

"_**No, we are, but that isn't the point." Lily said distractedly.**_

"_**That's exactly the point Lily." Severus said, standing up and frowning at her, "If you are protected with both of us then you have no idea whose baby it is."**_

"_**Severus, would you just back off please?" Lily shouted as she too stood, "This baby is not yours; you just want it to be so I have a reason to leave James for you!"**_

"_**You don't know that Lily!" Severus yelled at her.**_

"_**Yes, yes I do!" Lily said with tears in her eyes, "Because there was an accident with James, the charm went wrong, the baby is James's Severus."**_

_**Severus backed down immediately, "Okay." He simply said.**_

"_**Okay?" Lily repeated, surprised at how quickly he'd calmed down.**_

"_**Okay." Severus said quietly, "If the baby is his then I won't stop him from seeing it grow up." He said, "I'll see you in a few months?"**_

_**Lily nodded, "I'll be back after the baby is born." She promised, "But I can't see you in the meantime."**_

"_**You'll write?" Severus asked.**_

_**After a brief pause Lily nodded, "Every week." She said softly as she took the charms off of the room.**_

"_**Good luck Lily." Severus said calmly as he kissed her lightly on the cheek. **_

_**Lily tried to hide the tears in her eyes as she thanked him, "I'll speak to you soon Severus, take care." She turned and got to the door of the room, her hand was on the handle but she didn't seem to be able to turn it. Lily sighed and placed the charms back on the room, she smiled at Severus over her shoulder and said, "Once more to say goodbye can't hurt, can it?"**_

_**Severus smiled, surprised but pleased that she hadn't been able to leave the way she nearly did, "No, I don't suppose it can." He said as she made her way back across the room to him.**_

Severus smiled at the memory, "Lily and I had one big argument, but just the one." He said, "Lily told me she was pregnant and although she had been protected with both James and myself she said she was sure the baby was James's so we fought, but she didn't leave angry at me, we could never leave angry with each other."

Remus smiled too, that was the Lily he knew, she had a temper but it never lasted long, it was then that he had a thought, "If she had been protected with you both, how do you know that Harry isn't your son?" He asked.

Severus chuckled, "He is James's son, surely you can see it just by looking at him." He said, looking at the baby in question, "Plus, Lily told me the reason she knew Harry was James's was because the charm had gone wrong for them."

"But what if she lied?" Remus asked the potions master.

"Why would she lie?" Severus asked, he had wondered occasionally but he wouldn't let himself get his hopes up just for them to be brought down, as far as he was concerned he was raising Harry as his own child regardless so it didn't make a difference.

"Well, she wouldn't want to tell James that she was expecting your baby, that would mean telling him about the affair and getting a divorce right in the middle of a war that required them to fight all their battles together, literally." Remus explained, the cool, logical one, very similar to Severus himself.

"I'm sure that Harry is James's son." Severus said awkwardly.

Remus frowned, "How can you be sure?" He asked causing the other man to sigh, "Because I can't have children." He admitted in embarrassment, "I'm infertile."

"Oh." Remus said, "I'm sorry."

Severus shrugged, "It's okay, you weren't to know, and I have Harry and Draco now, that's enough for me."

Remus smiled, "Well I'm glad you're able to have something." He said honestly, "Sirius and I are glad of Harry too because obviously we can't have children."

Severus nodded, "I think Harry is almost like a godsend to us all." He said.

"He's the thing that links us all together." Remus agreed, "He makes us almost like a family."

"A very dysfunctional one." Severus added causing Remus to laugh, "Dysfunctional indeed."

It was then that the front door opened and Sirius re-entered the room, he smiled at the two men, "Frank and Alice were glad to get Neville back, they thought we'd kidnapped him."

Remus and Severus chuckled and Sirius then pulled a bag out of his pocket, "Here is some apology chocolate Remus." He said sheepishly as he threw a couple of bars of Honeydukes chocolate at the werewolf.

"You're forgiven." Remus said easily as he bit into the much needed chocolate.

"And your blood drops dungeon bat." Sirius said as he threw a packet of blood drops to Severus who rolled his eyes at the insult.

Harry again appeared to magic himself out of the playpen, "Oh dear." Remus said, "We're going to need to magic proof that playpen."

"Hmm, he does have strong underage magic." Severus agreed and Sirius nodded, "He's going to be a great Wizard one day."

"Oh I don't doubt it." Severus said, wondering why Harry was so desperate to be out of the playpen. The baby crawled over to Remus and sat at his feet, looking up at him sweetly.

"What do you want Harry?" Remus asked the boy with a chuckle.

"Chwocklate." Harry said, cocking his head at Remus and reaching towards the chocolate piece Remus was holding.

"Whats the magic word Harry?" Sirius asked with a smile at the cute little boy.

"Pweeeeeease Remy." Harry said in a very long drawn out way.

Remus laughed and popped a little bit of chocolate into Harry's mouth, he proceeded to make noises like 'Mmm' through the chocolate causing Sirius to burst out laughing and claim that they had a 'mini Remus' on their hands.

It was in such a simple moment that Sirius, Remus and Severus realised that the biggest, toughest walls separating them had come down and that it was all because of Harry. It was like Remus said; he really did unite them all in a way that would never have occurred if the tragedy of Lily and James's deaths hadn't happened. Such a simple moment with Sirius laughing and Remus chuckling and Harry enjoying chocolate made Severus take up the belief that everything happened for a reason, and while he didn't know the reason yet he was sure the big guy up in the sky did. The thought made him think of Lily and in that moment he could see her face smiling down on them all, for the first time Severus felt like part of a family, he felt like he had friends and a life to be proud of.

**To be continued **


	9. Everybody's Watching to See the Fallout

**Eyes Open**

When Tuesday morning loomed Severus found himself feeling more than a little sad as he put his standard black robes on and dragged himself down the stairs with a sleepy Harry. On autopilot he placed the boy in his high chair and gave him his spoon to let him demolish his cereal. Severus yawned as he drank his coffee and ate his toast, it was 7am, and Severus was going back to work today which meant that he wouldn't see Harry until Saturday because Friday night was his patrol night. He had mixed feelings about going back, he needed too because now that Lily and James were gone he and Sirius were the people who needed to support Harry, Remus would if he could but he couldn't find a job, but Severus was going to miss the boy more than he would admit to anyone other than himself.

"Morning." Remus said with a yawn as he walked into the dining room and sat down, he looked awful but Severus knew it was because of the full moon tomorrow.

"You look terrible." Severus said casually as he sipped on his coffee.

"Thanks." Remus joked with a weak chuckle, "I'm more worried than usual about this it this month, I don't want to hurt Harry."

"I'm sure you won't." Severus said, "You aren't going to transform here, are you?"

Remus shook his head, "Oh of course not, Sirius and I decided that I should go into the woods behind the Quidditch pitch, the Manor is in the middle of nowhere so I won't hurt anyone."

"That seems like a sensible idea." Severus reasoned, glancing at the time and sighing, "I'm going to have to leave." He said and Remus could tell that leaving wasn't going to be easy for him; he had gotten very attached to Harry already.

Severus glanced to the boy who had now finished his breakfast, with a few charms Severus cleaned him and vanished the dishes to the kitchen; he lifted Harry out of the high chair and managed to smile at him, "Goodbye Harry." He said, "You be good for Sirius and Remus, I'll see you really soon." Severus then kissed Harry on the cheek and handed him to Remus. The moment Remus took Harry he began to cry which broke Severus's heart a little, but he needed to go to work, he sighed and walked out of the door.

"NO! SEVVY!" Harry shouted and Severus continued to walk, but Harry's continuous shouts upset him more and more, eventually he got to the front door and left, he had never felt so guilty. As he walked down the path and apparated to the school he embarrassedly wiped his eyes, what was wrong with him? Severus Snape did not cry twice in one week. By the time Severus reached Hogwarts and entered the great hall he was suffice to say, a mess.

"Severus, are you alright?" Minerva asked as he took his seat between her and Dumbledore, the older woman seemed concerned.

Severus sighed, "Harry didn't cope well with me leaving this morning." He admitted, "He cried and shouted my name."

"Oh dear." Minerva said sadly, "I suppose the last people who left him were his parents and they didn't come back." She said logically, Severus hadn't considered it that way before but it would make sense.

"I'm sure he'll settle fine within the next few days." Dumbledore assured Severus, "And he'll have Sirius and Remus around to keep him happy."

Severus nodded, desperately hoping that Harry would be okay without him, Dumbledore chuckled at the look on his face, "I don't think Harry is the only one with separation issues Severus." He teased causing the Slytherin to glare at him, "I'm fine." He snapped and Minerva smiled, "That's the Severus we know back." She said almost lovingly and although Severus would never admit it he felt a small smile tugging at his lips.

* * *

"No, no Harry, stop crying." Remus was saying as he handed Harry a cuddly toy, he had tried everything he could think of, he had tried to rock him and lift him up and put him down to run around but Harry still screamed, he was red in the face and would only stop screaming to take a breath and prepare for the next scream. Remus knew that if Sirius had been in this situation he would have put earplugs in and waited for it to stop but Remus was far too motherly for that, he was worried Harry would hurt himself or make himself sick screaming.

Harry accepted the toy that Remus had given him only to throw it back at the werewolf and hit him in the face with it, he had briefly stopped crying but he began to scream holy murder again and Remus groaned, he really needed Sirius right now, he couldn't cope with the full moon tomorrow and a screaming, distraught child on top of that. Unfortunately Sirius was at Gringotts in a meeting about the Potter bank accounts; he had been left in charge of the finances as specified in James's will. Lily and James both had life insurance accounts which was going to be paid out, but the trio had already decided that the money would go in a holding account for Harry when he came of age.

Eventually Remus couldn't take anymore of it, "Right!" Remus shouted, "That's it!" He picked Harry up and stormed up the stairs, he dressed himself and then forced clothes onto a screaming, wriggling Harry and as fast as he could he got out of the house and apparated to the only place he could think of.

When Remus knocked on the door of the burrow he was met with a security question, "State who you are with proof."

"It's Remus John Lupin." Remus called over Harry's screams, "I am otherwise known as Moony because I'm a werewolf."

There was a pause and the door opened, Molly looked suspiciously at him, Remus sighed, "It was weak I know but I am worked off my feet with Harry right now."

Molly looked from the screaming child to the exhausted Remus and stood back to let him in, "I'm sorry Remus, I'm still paranoid even though they say he's dead." She admitted.

"I understand." Remus said, looking desperately at Molly "Is there anything you can do to make him stop crying?" He asked, "I've tried everything."

Molly smiled as she took the boy from Remus, "Why and when did he start?" She asked.

"About 7.30 this morning when Severus left to go back to Hogwarts." Remus said making Molly look surprised, "So he really is staying with you?" She asked as she held Harry a certain way and patted his back, he continued to scream but it got quieter and quieter until he was quiet and calm.

"That's amazing." Remus said in awe, "And yes, he had a custody claim to Harry so Sirius and I are living in Potter Manor and he's only around at weekends because he works at Hogwarts but Harry seemed to get attached to him.

"Well, I can understand why after what he must have gone through." Molly said, "Poor thing."

Remus nodded and glanced around, the house was relatively quiet, "Where are your bunch?" He asked.

Molly smiled, "It's quiet for a change now that Bill is at Hogwarts." She led Remus into the living room which was empty, "Charlie and Percy are upstairs entertaining Fred and George and Ron and Ginny are sleeping."

"You look marvellous for someone who has just given birth by the way." Remus said to Molly who beamed and blushed, "Oh thank you Remus." She said.

"What age is Ron now?" Remus asked as he watched Molly gently rock Harry, she had far too much experience with this.

"He's 1 and half." Molly said, "Around Harry's age I imagine."

Remus nodded, "About 4 months apart, I suspect they'll be in the same year at Hogwarts."

Molly nodded again, "Who knows, they might be friends." She said with a smile. Remus opened his mouth to tell Molly about Harry's new friends when a baby started to cry in a nearby room, the cry set off another cry and it was clear both Ginny and Ron had woken up. Molly sighed as she handed Harry back to Remus, "I'm going to have to run Remus." She apologised.

"No problem Molly." Remus said and he thanked her for what she did for Harry then left the burrow and apparated back to Potter Manor. Harry had fallen asleep in Molly's arms and Remus was being very careful as he walked up the path and into the Manor so as not to wake him. Remus got to the entrance hall and breathed a sigh of relief that Harry was still asleep; finally he would get some rest.

"REMUS!"

Sirius bounded in the front doors, shouting loudly and slamming the large oak doors behind him. Harry started to scream again as he woke up and Remus screamed too, "SIRIUS! I'd just gotten him to sleep, he's been screaming all morning, you woke him up you can stop him crying!" Remus exploded as he handed Harry to Sirius and stormed off to the place that Sirius wouldn't dare enter to find him, the library.

Remus slammed the door and put a muffliato charm on the room so he didn't have to listen to Harry's screaming anymore. He sighed as he sat in the room with his head in his hands, he couldn't raise a baby, he didn't even know how to make Harry stop crying, Severus and Sirius had this covered, they didn't need him here. Remus felt sick and his head was killing him, he needed to get away, far away, he didn't want to hurt Harry.

* * *

Sirius mumbled in annoyance at Remus as the man stalked off and slammed a door, he then looked down at Harry and gave him a dirty look, "Stop crying." He said, "It's not going to get you anywhere, you aren't getting any sympathy from me." Harry stopped crying for a moment then started again. Sirius just looked at him and said, "No." Harry seemed to think about it for a few minutes and then decided to stop crying, Sirius clearly had a way with children that Remus didn't.

The harmony didn't last long though, Sirius tried to give Harry his morning snack and ended up with spat out crackers covering his face and his robes, and surprise surprise, Harry was screaming again. Sirius rolled his eyes, "God Harry, you're such a baby sometimes." He groaned as he transfigured his robes and took Harry out of the Manor. He reached the gate and apparated to Malfoy Manor hoping that Narcissa would be in.

When he knocked on the door and Narcissa answered he was extremely grateful, "Oh Narcissa, thank God you're in." He said in relief, "I can't get Harry to stop crying, Severus is the only one who can do it and he's working."

Narcissa chuckled, "Come in Sirius." She said as if she was talking to a child but Sirius didn't care as long as she got Harry to stop screaming. He followed Narcissa into the main living room and the moment that Harry saw Draco he stopped crying and his eyes lit up, "DWACO!" He shouted, trying to wriggle out of Sirius's arms. "HAWWY!" Draco called back making Narcissa smile.

Sirius put Harry down and let him toddle over to Draco where he seemed back to himself again, he must have just been missing his friend and Severus, Sirius practically collapsed onto Narcissa's sofa, "That's better." He sighed.

"They seem at ease with each other." Narcissa commented as she watched the two boys, Sirius couldn't help but agree, "I'm glad Harry has a friend." He said.

"As I am that Draco has Harry." Narcissa said, "Why was he so upset? Because Severus left?"

Sirius nodded, "I assume so, I had to go to a meeting at Gringotts this morning so Remus was supposed to watch Harry after Severus left for work, I got back and Harry had been screaming and Remus was extremely stressed." He explained to his cousin.

"How is Severus coping with the separation?" Narcissa asked Sirius who replied, "I have no idea, but he's attached to Harry, I suspect he's missing him."

"I think you're right." Narcissa agreed, "The changes I've seen in him in this last week are astounding." She smiled, "I'm going to visit him tonight actually, to talk about my divorce to Lucius, I need a witness to sign the papers at the ministry, I'm hoping Severus will be able to come."

"Don't you need the Husband to sign before it can be legalised?" Sirius asked keeping a close eye on Harry.

"Usually." Narcissa replied, "But if you have exceptional circumstances and can provide proof it can be legalised without the signature."

"Well, I think 'death eater who worshipped Voldemort' might suffice." Sirius said, ignoring Narcissa's wince at the name.

Before anymore could be said on the comment an owl tapped on the window, Narcissa frowned, "I don't recognise that owl." She said as she opened the window and let the owl drop the letter on Sirius's lap, "It's addressed to me." He said as he tore open the letter, he had a bad feeling about it.

_Dear Sirius,_

_I'm sorry to run off without saying goodbye but I can't be around Harry, the full moon is coming up and it's just too difficult. I'm sure you and Severus will cope fine, just take care of Harry and don't come looking for me, it's too dangerous._

_Yours,_

_Remus._

"Crap." Sirius muttered, "Remus has decided to run away." He said to his cousin, he wondered if she could see the fear in his eyes, he supposed she could because she offered to look after Harry, "Do you want to go and find him? I can watch Harry; I have Draco all day anyway."

"You wouldn't mind doing that?" Sirius asked feeling helpless and useless.

"Of course not." Narcissa said with a smile, "Go and find him."

Sirius just nodded and thanked Narcissa again as he rushed out of the door, he got to the gate and then realised he had no idea where Remus could be, where would he go?

* * *

Narcissa Malfoy spent her day having a good time with her son and his new best friend, the baby she was starting to see almost as a second son, goodness knew that he needed a mother figure in his life; he couldn't grow up under the influence of 3 men. Narcissa magically expanded Draco's pushchair so the boys could sit next to each other in it, she sat both the boys inside and put a hat on Harry to cover his scar so that he didn't get any unwanted attention. Narcissa had then taken the boys to Diagon Alley, she'd bought both of the boys a small ice-cream and had let them get messy, then she'd taken them to the soft play area in Diagon Alley before buying them both toy wands that shot harmless sparks, she'd spoiled them rotten.

When it came to 6pm Narcissa apparated to Hogwarts with the pushchair in her magically extended bag, she carried the boys through the grounds to the entrance hall where she was meeting Severus who didn't know she'd be bringing Harry as well as Draco.

"SEVVY!" Harry shouted when he saw Severus, Narcissa chuckled and put Harry down so that he could run across the busy entrance hall to Severus. The students all stopped to watch the scene, Severus was known as the bitter, strict potions master so to see him grin and lift up a baby boy who had just run towards him and say, "Hello Harry!" was really a site that they had never expected to see.

Narcissa laughed as Severus walked over to Narcissa, "What a nice surprise." He said, "Thank you." He kissed her on the cheek and she managed to hide her blush, just.

"It's alright." Narcissa said honestly, "Sirius was having a hard time with him and I thought you might appreciate it." She said as they made their way out of the entrance hall and into the grounds which were still light.

"He was having a hard time? With Harry?" Severus asked and Narcissa nodded, "Apparently he didn't stop screaming after you left until Sirius brought him to the Manor and he saw Draco."

"I worry I've let him get too attached to me." Severus sighed as he glanced down at the one year old boy in his arms.

"Draco is much too attached to me Severus, it's the risk of being a parent, sometimes you can love a child too much." Narcissa said wisely as she took the pushchair out of her bag and put the two boys into it.

"I'm not a parent Narcissa." Severus said as they stopped for a moment by the lake, "I'm just one of the people raising him."

"You're his Father for all intents and purposes." Narcissa said, "Sirius is his Godfather and Lupin is..." She trailed off and Severus smiled, "His Godmother?" He suggested making the woman laugh, "That's rude Severus."

"Oh how strange of me, I'm never rude." Severus said sarcastically as Narcissa rolled her eyes and took the two toy wands out of her pocket and handed them to the boys who proceeded to pretend to duel each other.

Severus raised an eyebrow at Narcissa, "You bought them toy wands?"

"I wanted to treat them, I took them to Diagon Alley today, I offered to watch Harry this afternoon because Sirius had to run off to find Lupin." Narcissa explained to Severus who frowned, "Lupin ran off? What do you mean?"

"Well, Sirius came by the Manor to see if I could console Harry and he got a letter from Lupin then said he'd run away and that he had to find him." Narcissa told Severus as she pushed the pushchair to a bench looking out over the lake. She put the brakes on then stopped and sat down with Severus following her lead.

"That's strange." Severus commented, wondering what could have made Remus run off, apart from the full moon issue which Narcissa didn't know about because she didn't know about Remus's 'fuzzy problem'.

"I wanted to ask you something Severus, that's why I wanted to meet with you tonight." Narcissa said, not shyly, but a little worried that Severus would say no or that he wouldn't be able to make it.

"What is it?" Severus asked politely as he took Harry out of the pushchair and bounced him on his knee as he looked at Narcissa curiously. She sighed, "I'm going to the ministry tomorrow to officially divorce Lucius, but I need a witness to sign the papers, and in truth, I need some moral support."

Severus nodded, "I understand that. What time is the meeting at?"

"3pm." Narcissa replied, hoping beyond hope that he would be able to make it.

"In that case of course I'll accompany you; my last class finishes at 2pm tomorrow." Severus said with a smile to the woman who was quickly becoming his closest friend, they had been close when Lucius had been at large and when Lily had been alive but after all that had happened they seemed to have gotten closer than ever.

"Thank you." Narcissa said with a large smile, and she truly meant it, she couldn't explain to Severus how much it meant to her and how much it would help her having him there for her on such a difficult day.

* * *

Sirius Black was more than a little bit of a mess as he tried to find Remus Lupin, for all he knew the man's letter could have meant anything, he didn't know where Remus was or how long he was going to be gone for and the thought of raising Harry without Remus was horrible. Sirius felt like he was running around like a headless chicken trying to find the man, he'd had no success at the shrieking shack, the leaky cauldron, the hogs head or the three broomsticks, he'd stopped at each bar and had a firewhiskey to calm himself which in reality only made him worry more. Sirius then checked the flat that he and Remus had shard before Lily and James's death, going back there felt strange, it felt like a lifetime ago they have lived here, a different lifetime, a lifetime when Lily and James had been alive and happy and everything had been normal. Sirius sighed as he looked around the place; it was exactly as he'd left it on that fateful Saturday night. Sirius found some small comfort at the flat; he found some of Remus's things which had previously been at Potter Manor which meant that he'd been here recently.

With some hope Sirius checked all the bars in the area but couldn't find Remus anywhere, he began to give up again as he apparated to Hogwarts to check if he was there. As Sirius hurried up the gravel path he saw Narcissa and Severus walking by the path with a pushchair, breathing heavily Sirius ran over to them, "I can't find Remus anywhere." He gasped, "Where do you think he would go?"

Severus frowned, "Have you tried the graveyard?" He asked quietly causing Sirius's eyes to widen, "No." He said slowly as he turned on his heel and ran for the gate again leaving a confused Severus and an even more confused Narcissa behind him. By the time Sirius reached the kissing gate into the graveyard at Godric's Hollow he'd gotten his breath back and it had started to snow. Severus had been right, he found Remus sitting on the hard ground in front of Lily and James's graves.

"I've been looking for you all day." Sirius said quietly causing Remus to jump. He stood up to look at Sirius, "I'm sorry, I'm just so scared of hurting Harry when I transform."

"When you..." Sirius trailed off, "Wait...You were only planning on being gone a few days?"

Remus frowned, "Yes, I was going to come back on Thursday, what did you think I meant?" He asked, but Sirius was too busy laughing with relief, "God Remus I'm relieved." He sighed, "When I read that letter I thought you meant you were leaving indefinitely." Sirius admitted.

Remus realised why the man had been so worried now and his eyes widened, "Oh. I'm sorry; I probably should have worded that letter better." He said with hindsight as he and Sirius began to walk out of the graveyard.

"Yeah, that might have helped." Sirius said, "But on the brightside, I've had a hell of a work out today." Remus chuckled at the comment, "I'm sorry, I bet I was in the last place you looked too."

"Tell me about it." Sirius said as the couple reached the square where the church stood, the church Lily and James's wedding and funeral had been in.

"Have you seen the monument for Lily and James?" Remus asked quietly as the snow began to come down faster, Sirius shook his head and turned to where Remus was pointing. He felt a lump in his throat when he saw the statue of Lily and James holding a baby Harry, it was incredibly sad.

"Do you want to go home for the night?" Sirius asked, reaching his hand out for Remus to take. The werewolf didn't hesitate as he took Sirius's hand, "Yes." He confessed, but neither of them took their eyes off of the statue as they apparated out of the square.

**To be continued **


	10. Two Steps Ahead & Staying On Guard

**Eyes Open**

_**A/N - Okay so a little darker and there are mentions of sexual abuse but nothing vivid! I just feel its importance to illustrate how much of an evil git Lucius was to Narcissa. I'm putting the rating up to an M for the f word and the sexual themes, there may well be more swearing but nothing sex/sexual abuse, at least I don't think, might change my mind! **_

_**Hope you guys are still enjoying this! And it will get happier, promise!**_

* * *

"Good Afternoon."

Even Sirius Black, as clueless as he was about women and their feelings, could see that his cousin was nervous the moment she appeared on the doorstep and uttered those words. She looked paler than usual, her hair was immaculate as if she'd tried very hard to look good and she was wearing newly washed and ironed robes.

"Afternoon." Sirius said happily as he let her into the house, he had agreed to watch Harry and Draco while she and Severus went to the Ministry of Magic to legalise her divorce to Lucius, "Has he had lunch?" Sirius asked as he led Narcissa into the dining room where he was in the process of feeding Harry who was still a little huffy and had thrown most of his sandwich onto the floor.

"HAWWY!" Draco shouted, and tried to get out of his Mother's arms.

"No." Narcissa answered with a small smile at her sons eagerness to see Harry, "I didn't have time, I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Sirius said as he magically extended Harry's high chair and put Draco next to him in it, "Harry might actually eat something now." He joked, "I hope you'll be okay today."

Narcissa smiled weakly, "Thank you, it won't be easy, but at least I'll have Severus. The meeting shouldn't take too long, but if I'm not back by 5pm would you mind giving Draco dinner?"

"Of course not." Sirius replied, "Is he allergic to anything?"

Narcissa shook her head and glanced worriedly at the clock on the wall, Sirius smiled, "You better get off, good luck." Narcissa thanked her cousin again and let herself out of the house.

"So boys, lunchtime!" Sirius said to the two children who were throwing bits of Harry's sandwich at each other and making a mess, why did he have a feeling that this was going to be a long day?

* * *

After leaving Potter Manor Narcissa Malfoy apparated to the main entrance of the ministry of magic where she was grateful to see Severus. Narcissa smiled at him as she walked over, "Are you ready?" He asked when she reached him.

"I think so." Narcissa replied nervously, she took a deep breath and nodded to Severus, he smiled proudly at her, he was extremely proud of her for doing this particularly so soon after Lucius's arrest. Together they entered the ministry and walked through the crowded atrium, Narcissa smiled to herself when Severus placed his hand on her shoulder to help guide her through the crowd, it was those little things that made her wonder if there was hope for them yet. Eventually they reached the lifts and Narcissa had never felt as judged as she and Severus stood in the busy lift together, all conversations stopped and everyone looked at her in disgust and shock. She was the wife of a known death eater after all, and Severus had been in the press because of all the business with Harry. When the lift stopped at level 2 and Narcissa and Severus left she couldn't feel more relieved, "That was horrible." She whispered to Severus as they made their way to the Administrative Registration Office where births, deaths, marriages and divorces were all recorded.

"It's disgusting." Severus said in an angry undertone, "You were forced into a marriage with a monster, you were the victim. People who don't know you have no right to judge you like that."

"Thank you Severus." Narcissa said feeling a little lighter; it was nice to having someone who was on her side for a change. Severus didn't have time to say anything more as they reached the waiting room where Alice Longbottom greeted them with a smile, "Good Afternoon Narcissa." She said, "Are you ready?"

Narcissa nodded at the Auror who had helped her with the issues following her Husband's arrest, "As ready as I'll ever be." She said honestly. Alice smiled, "That's understandable, shall we go in then?"

Narcissa nodded again and she and Severus followed Alice into the small office where a short, fat man with a handlebar moustache was sitting. He nodded as a greeting and Alice told Narcissa and Severus to sit down in front of the desk, she pulled a chair over and sat down next to Narcissa.

"This is Narcissa Vela Black Malfoy." Alice said to the man, "She applied for a divorce to her Husband Lucius Abraxas Malfoy under exceptional circumstances. Severus Tobias Snape is here as witness."

The short fat man consulted the paper on his desk and nodded, "What are the exceptional circumstances?" He asked, sounding bored and tired.

"Abuse." Alice said simply and Narcissa looked down to where her hands were clasped in front of her with a frown.

"I'm afraid you'll need to be more specific Auror Longbottom." The man said without looking up from the paper on his desk.

Alice gave Narcissa and apologetic look, "Physical abuse to both my client and her son who ranged in age from 6 months to 1 year at the time of the violence." She handed the man pictures which Severus couldn't see. The man looked at them and nodded, Severus felt sickened; he hadn't known that Lucius had hit Draco too, but it explained why Draco rarely cried when Harry hit him with a toy or threw something at him.

"And sexual abuse." Alice said, noticing that Narcissa was crying and feeling extremely sorry for her; Severus reached his hand over and offered it to Narcissa who took it gladly but didn't seem able to look at Severus.

"Can you prove this?" The man asked, looking from Alice to Narcissa who still wouldn't look up. Alice frowned, "Not without a legilimency test." She admitted, "But surely the physical abuse and the fact that the man was a death eater is enough to legalise the divorce."

The man did look to feel bad about this, "I am truly sorry Auror Longbottom but the marriage bond is in blood which only happens in pureblood cases and a pureblood bond is much trickier to break, the circumstances really must be exceptional."

Alice sighed, "Narcissa, do you object to a legilimency test?" She asked, "It will invade your thoughts and pull out a few memories of the abuse, it will take under 5 minutes and we can give you a potion so that you don't have to relive the memories." She explained to the distraught woman.

Narcissa looked up for the first time and it was clear that she had been crying, her eyes were red and wet, she cleared her throat, "I'll do anything to divorce him."

The man handed her a sheet of paper and said, "If you would just sign here, and if you would sign underneath Mr. Snape."

Narcissa signed the paper after quickly reading through it, Severus did the same and the man asked them to wait while he went and got the legilimency specialist.

"Are you okay Narcissa?" Severus asked quietly, he was still holding her hand; he could tell she was very shaken up by the experience.

Narcissa nodded, "I just wish it was enough without this." She admitted as she let some more tears loose, "I'm so ashamed about it; I hoped that no one would ever have to know or see it except me."

"It will be okay Narcissa." Severus assured her, "It's all confidential, no one can talk about it, the only people who will know are the people in this room."

"What are they going to do to find the memory Severus?" Narcissa asked anxiously, she knew he was an extremely talented legilimens.

"They only need to see 3 memories to verify the abuse." Severus explained, "So what they are going to do if you choose not to take the potion is ask you to think about the 3 times it was at its worse, they will then view the memory and store it in a vial for the records in the rare case that Lucius gets out of Azkaban and decides to try the case again in court." Narcissa looked anxious but Alice calmed her, "But that almost never happens. No one gets out of Azkaban on good behaviour and Lucius is most definitely guilty."

"What happens if I chose to take the potion?" Narcissa asked Severus hoping for a slightly better answer, but she didn't get it. Severus sighed, "Well, if you take the potion you don't have to experience the memories again, but the specialist needs to look through more of your memories to find the ones that show the abuse so your memories are invaded more and it does take a bit longer."

Narcissa nodded, she looked extremely worried and Severus really couldn't blame her, "But whatever you chose, I promise I won't let go of your hand."

"Thank you." Narcissa said in a quiet, broken voice as the specialist entered the room. He was a thin older man with greying hair and a friendly face. The fat man took his seat across the desk again the specialist pulled a chair over next to Alice so that he could face Narcissa, "Good Afternoon Madame, my name is Mr. Binford." He greeted, "I'm sorry to cut straight to the chase but have you decided if you would like to use the potion or not?"

Narcissa answered shakily, "I wouldn't like to use the potion."

"Good, that's great. We can start as soon as you're ready then." Binford said and Narcissa closed her eyes, took a deep breath and squeezed Severus's hand, "I'm ready." She said.

Binford raised his wand and cast the spell and Narcissa could feel his presence intruding in her head, he spoke, but not out loud, only in her head, "Think of one of the worst case scenarios for me please." The voice echoed around her head as she thought hard about the first time it had ever happened, just after she and Lucius were married.

_Narcissa was 18, only just out of Hogwarts and immediately married off to Lucius. The man had appeared charming at first but Narcissa soon realised who he really was._

_The door opened and Lucius came in, he was in an extremely bad mood and he threw his cloak onto the sofa, "Today was terrible at work." He said as he came into the living room where Narcissa was standing and kissed her hard on the lips, Narcissa pushed him away but Lucius only rolled his eyes, "Don't you dare push me away. I'm your Husband." He said dangerously and the fear flitted in Narcissa's eyes making Lucius smirk, "Are you scared of me Cissy?" He asked with a dark chuckle, "Good, you should be." _

_The man then pushed her onto the sofa and began to tear at her clothes while she silently put up with the abuse and cried, of course the crying only spurred Lucius on more, he liked to hurt and upset people, he liked to cause pain._

Thankfully the memory faded and blurred and she didn't need to watch anymore, as it ended she took a breath of air and it felt like her lungs were refilling, she became aware of the tears streaming down her face as Binford put the memory in a vial and went back into her head again. He told her to think of another memory and so she did, hoping beyond hope she wouldn't need to relive the entire memory.

_Narcissa had been putting up with the abuse for years by this point so when Lucius came home in a bad mood and 'demanded' her she didn't refuse anymore, she by no means ever enjoyed it, she never spoke or made a sound but she had been the victim of his attacks so many times that she learned silence was the best way. _

_So he walked over to her and told her to go to the bedroom and she did as he said and he followed and undressed and then began his attack on her yet again, as he did every week. _

Thankfully the memory began to fade and Narcissa could breathe a sigh of relief again, that memory wasn't the worse but it was a horrible one for the reason that the attack in that memory had been the one in which Draco was conceived, she'd hoped after that things would get better but they didn't. It had stopped briefly while Narcissa had been pregnant but then it had started again. Before Narcissa had sufficient time to recover the man was in her head for the 3rd and final time asking to see the last memory.

_Narcissa was playing with her 7 month old son when her Husband came home from work in a foul mood._

"_I am so sick of the ministry!" Lucius shouted as he threw his cane down on the floor alarming Draco and causing him to cry._

"_Lucius, you've upset Draco." Narcissa said angrily._

"_I don't fucking care if I've upset him!" Lucius said as he pushed Draco out of the way, "He's just a stupid little baby!" _

"_Shut up Lucius." Narcissa hissed, "You can treat me as badly as you want but don't you dare hurt Draco or talk about him that way!"_

"_He's my son!" Lucius shouted, "I'll treat him however the hell I want too!" He pushed Narcissa onto the couch, "You need to be shown a lesson." He hissed angrily at her and for the first time in a long time she cried._

"_No, not in front of Draco, please Lucius, don't." Narcissa begged but Lucius only sneered, "He's a baby, what does he know." He merely said and as Draco cried on the floor behind them Lucius attacked Narcissa again._

When the 3rd memory ended Narcissa broke down and fell into Severus's arms, he pulled her close and whispered to her that she would be okay. The man, who had caused it all, handed Severus a potion, "It should calm her down." He explained, "This is a difficult thing to go through, but it has provided us with enough evidence to legalise the divorce."

Severus nodded and thanked the man as he left the office with the vials after signing something for the fat man. Severus handed Narcissa the potion and she shakily took it and slowly began to shake and cry less. After a few minutes she seemed back to normal, but still understandably shaken.

"Good news Miss Black." The fat man said as he smiled for the first time at her, he gave her some papers to sign to legalise the divorce for good and after she'd signed Severus signed as her witness.

"Is it possible to legalise the change of my son's name?" Narcissa asked, now that she was calm and able to think straight.

"It would usually take another week or so to get the papers." The fat man admitted, "But since you're here anyway and given your exceptional circumstances you can do it by signing this form." He handed her a form and said, "Just write his name as it is now on the top line and what you'd like it to be changed too on the bottom line then sign at the bottom of the page."

Narcissa nodded, she took a deep breath and wrote on the top line, 'Draco Lucius Malfoy' and then on the bottom line without even thinking about it she wrote 'Draco Severus Black'. Narcissa then signed at the bottom and Severus couldn't believe his eyes when he glanced at the form to sign as a witness, he felt a little teary eyed for the 3rd time that week as he signed his name below Narcissa's and handed the form back to the man.

"Congratulations Miss Black." He said, "The forms will go through the system within a week and you will receive a confirmation owl, but your divorce is now officially legalised."

"Thank you." Narcissa said, feeling as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders as she stood from the chair and left the office, it wasn't until they reached the waiting room that she realised she was still holding Severus's hand.

"Well done Narcissa." Alice said kindly, handing her a piece of parchment, "Here's my address and floo address if you ever need me, I'm always here to talk." Narcissa thanked Alice who then left to get back to work and looked down at her and Severus's entwined hands, "Thank you for everything in there Severus." She said and he must have seen something in her gaze because he dropped her hand and said, "No problem." With a smile that was a little forced. The two of them left the ministry in silence and apparated to Potter Manor. Narcissa was kicking herself, she hadn't wanted him to discover her feelings for him, she knew he would distance himself if he knew, it had been a moment of weakness and she hadn't been able to hide it.

They didn't talk as they made their way up the path to the Manor or as Severus opened the door and called out to Sirius who didn't answer. Narcissa followed the frowning man through the house and out of the back door to where Narcissa was surprised to see a Quidditch Pitch, Potter Manor was extremely grand. Severus muttered something as he made his way over to the Quidditch pitch where Sirius was flying in circles around two babies on small toy broomsticks.

Severus opened his mouth to shout at the man, but the words came out in the voice of Narcissa, "SIRIUS ORION BLACK! GET DOWN HERE NOW!"

Sirius looked down and gulped the broomsticks the kids were on only hovered 1 metre above the ground but for two one year olds that was still rather high. The supposedly brave Gryffindor flew down to the ground and gracefully dismounted his broomstick, "Oh hey Narcissa, you're back early." He said, trying to sound casual.

"Sirius?"

"Yes?"

"Why is my son on a broomstick?" Narcissa asked as she stood with her hands on her hips looking extremely strict, Severus thought it was hot, and Sirius was getting told off so he found the sight extremely amusing.

"Well." Sirius began, and Severus could tell this story was going to be drawn out, "I needed to go into Diagon Alley to get some money from Gringotts for the shopping because the elves are hungover from this massive party they had last night, you should've seen it, elf puke everywhere, not a nice sight." He shook his head, "So I was on my way back up the alley and I happened to have some extra money so I went into 'Quality Quidditch Supplies' to look at some books and brooms and I just happened to see this beginner broom and I thought it looked perfect for Harry and he was like, 'Uncle Siri can I get that broom?' and I couldn't say no so I thought oh what the heck, and then Draco got all sad so I thought I'd better get him one too so I bought two brooms and then we came back here and Draco just like asked, 'Can we go to the Quidditch pitch?' and you know he's so cute when he says stuff like that so I said 'Oh, alright then' and we came out here to fly." Sirius finished, looking incredibly sheepish.

"That's a nice story Black." Severus said as he walked closer to the man, he had a bit of height over Sirius and he was using it to his advantage because Sirius gulped and took a step back, "There's just one problem with it."

"Really? What's that?" Sirius asked still looking very scared.

"Harry and Draco can't talk yet." Severus said as he raised an eyebrow at the Gryffindor who groaned and said, "Okay fine! I bought them brooms! But I mean they only fell off like 5 times in an hour, that's really good for beginners!"

"5 times!" Narcissa screeched, "I am never letting you babysit my son again!"

"Wow, Cissa calm down." Sirius said as Narcissa advanced on him and looked ready to throttle him.

"I will not calm down! Are you trying to kill my son?" Narcissa shouted, going into extreme protective Mother mode.

"Kill him?" Sirius said, rolling his eyes, "No, there's a cushioning charm on the ground and they can't fly too high or fast."

"That isn't the point Black." Severus said, much more calmly as he placed a hand on Narcissa's shoulder, "Harry or Draco could have hit their head, even with a cushioning charm that could do serious damage."

Sirius rolled his eyes again, "Oh please, I fell off brooms and hit my head so many times when I was a kid and I turned out fine."

Severus and Narcissa both gave Sirius a look and he frowned, "What?"

"That is debatable." Severus mumbled, going over to check that the two boys were okay. He cast a quick charm and discovered they had no injuries, "They are both fine Narcissa." He told the worried woman comfortingly.

"See, I told you they were fine." Sirius said, "And watch this!" He released the snitch he had been holding his hand and as it flew around the boys heads Harry reached out and caught it expertly, "Wow." Severus said in amazement.

Sirius grinned, "Definitely going to be Gryffindor seeker." He said proudly.

"Gryffindor?" Severus asked, raising his eyebrow at the man yet again, "How do you know he'll be a Gryffindor?"

"How can he not be, his parents were both Gryffindors and Remus and I are raising him, what else can he be?"

"A Slytherin!" Narcissa and Severus said at the same time, sharing an amused look.

"No way!" Sirius objected, "If Harry becomes a Slytherin I'll eat a hippogriff."

"I'll remember that one when Harry gets sorted into Slytherin." Severus said as he lifted Harry and Draco off of their broomsticks and handed Draco to Narcissa who held him a little tighter than she would have otherwise, given the situation.

"Well, that will never happen." Sirius said stubbornly as the trio and the two babies headed back into the house after Sirius had put the brooms away in the shed.

"How do you know that?" Severus asked, "He's been raised by two Slytherins and two Gryffindors, its 50/50 odds."

"And you became a Gryffindor although the rest of us were Slytherins." Narcissa added with a smirk, "Harry could well be a Slytherin, or a Ravenclaw, Lily or Severus or Remus could have easily been Ravenclaws.

Sirius made a face, "Ravenclaw I can handle, Slytherin I can come to terms with, eventually, but he better not become a Hufflepuff."

Severus and Narcissa laughed at the comment as Sirius continued, "I mean Ravenclaws are clever, Gryffindors are brave and Slytherins are cunning, he could do well with any of those traits, but what are Hufflepuffs? Loyal? Hah, look where that got Peter." The man was off on a rant now so Severus and Narcissa let him continue, "Although I did sleep with a few Hufflepuffs, there are some damn hot ones but that's about it, God I'm so worried about Harry going to Hogwarts now."

Severus and Narcissa shared an amused look with each other as they reached the oak front doors of the house, Severus handed Harry back to Sirius, "Have fun thinking about that Black; I've got to get back to work." He said as he and Narcissa left the Manor, leaving behind an extremely worried Sirius saying to Harry, "If I drum it into you at a young age it might work. _You_ will be a Gryffindor, you _will _be a Gryffindor, you will _be _a Gryffindor, You will be a _Gryffindor_."

Narcissa and Severus chuckled as they walked down the path to the gates. They really were becoming like a dysfunctional family, but Severus knew that he wouldn't have it any other way.

**TBC **


	11. Every Lesson Forms a New Scar

**Eyes Open**

**Chapter 11 – Out with the Old, In with the New**

It was Friday the 13th and things were not going well for Sirius Black. Severus was at work at Hogwarts, and Remus was milling around the library reading books and being boring as usual which left Sirius to look after Harry. It had been 2 days since Narcissa's visit to the Ministry and she was spending all of her time trying to find someone who wanted to buy Malfoy Manor so she hadn't been able to come over and help as much as she might have liked.

Sirius made his way downstairs with Harry whistling a tune he'd heard Remus sing sometimes. His morning started out quite like any other morning, he put Harry in his chair, got him his cereal and then with his toast and coffee at the table he made to sit down in his usual chair.

The moment his bum touched the chair Sirius yelped in shock as the chair collapsed underneath him, 'shit!' he cursed loudly and then swore under his breath when Harry shouted, 'shit!' and clapped his hands, giggling at his Godfather, 'Again!' he shouted.

Sirius got up, rubbing his back and said, 'No Harry, not again,' to which Harry sulked and didn't eat his breakfast. Sirius didn't pander to this; he seemed to be the only one who could be strict when he needed too.

Next Sirius dressed Harry in his mini Quidditch robes and made sure he was covered in padding and once they were downstairs he put him down to let the little boy run outside to the Quidditch pitch with Sirius jogging behind him to keep up.

Once at the pitch Sirius grabbed Harry's junior broom from the shed and popped the little boy on it, transforming the ground into a large padded pillow as Harry started to zoom around and laugh like crazy.

Sirius grinned, 'Wait for me Harry,' he called as he jumped on his own broom which sped right up into the air and started to do loops of its own accord. Sirius shrieked like a girl as Harry laughed and shouted, 'Funny Siri!'

'Not funny Harry!' Sirius shouted as the broom began to dive bomb towards the ground, Sirius decided his best option was to abort the mission so when the broom neared the ground he let go of the handle and let himself fall onto the soft landing of the giant pillow.

'Again! Again!' Harry was shouting as Remus rushed out to the pitch, 'what happened?' he asked, looking at Sirius lying on the pillow with his broom twitching next to him.

'I'm cursed!' Sirius exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

'What?' Remus asked, frowning at the man.

'It's Friday the 13th Remus!' Sirius said, slightly panicking, 'and this morning when I sat on my chair it collapsed, then my broom threw me off!'

Remus gave Sirius a small smile, 'Don't be silly Sirius, curses don't exist.'

'The ancient Egyptian ones do! I've seen the pyramids!' Sirius said, glancing up at Harry who was still flying in circles, now he'd taken both hands off of the broom and was just using his legs.

'You think the ancient Egyptians have cursed you?' Remus asked in amusement, his eyes also on the cheeky little boy flying circles above them.

'It's a possibility!' Sirius said indignantly causing Remus to laugh, 'I highly doubt it, do you want me to watch Harry for a while so you can go have a nap?'

'I'm not going insane Remus,' Sirius insisted with a glare, Remus nodded sympathetically, tapping Sirius on the shoulder, 'I know Sirius, but you were up with Harry last night, I think you might be a little paranoid.'

'Remus I'm not paranoid!' Sirius said huffily, 'Harry, come down here!' he called and a second later Harry was lying on the pillow.

'He hasn't mastered the art of flying down the way yet,' Sirius explained as he picked Harry up and put the brooms away in the shed, 'he lands by letting go of the broom, he thinks it's fun.'

Remus rolled his eyes in amusement as the 3 of them made their way back to the house, 'It's scary how alike he is to James, isn't it?'

The melancholy mood that took over them when James or Lily was mentioned fell at Remus's words and Sirius nodded, 'yeah, he reminds me of him a lot.'

'Just remember, he isn't James,' Remus said firmly, 'you haven't got James back, Harry isn't him.'

'I know,' Sirius said darkly, 'it doesn't mean I like it, but I know.'

'Good,' Remus said with a smile, 'are you sure you're okay to look after Harry?'

'I'm fine,' Sirius insisted and Remus nodded, 'well in that case I'm off to Hogwarts.'

'Why?' Sirius asked suspiciously.

'To sleep with Severus clearly,' Remus said sarcastically but Sirius didn't laugh, he let out a low growl which sent shivers down Remus's spine, 'no, I'm helping him with a potion that could make my transformations less painful.'

'Ah, good luck,' Sirius said, putting Harry down briefly on the ground to give Remus a quick kiss goodbye.

'EW! YUCK! KISSING, YUCK!' Harry shouted causing Sirius to grin in amusement as he picked the boy up and Remus to chuckle as he made his way out of the Manor.

'Come on you, time for a swim,' Sirius said to Harry, taking him to the top floor, grabbing his swimming trunks along the way.

The day didn't continue as planned for Sirius, who fell into the pool after transfiguring a float to hold Harry, then spilt tea down his front as he fed Harry lunch, then he tripped on his way up the stairs to change Harry's nappy.

The final straw for Sirius came just after he'd fed Harry dinner and was waiting for Remus and Severus to return from Hogwarts, Severus couldn't spend most nights at home but he could come away from Hogwarts at the weekends.

While making his way to the door to open it after the bell rang Sirius had 3 accidents. First he fell over something invisible and landed flat on his face on the floor, second he skidded across the floor, and 3rd he hit his head against the hard wooden door with a loud curse.

Rubbing the spot on his head where he'd hit it Sirius opened the door and was surprised to see Narcissa standing there looking lovely and holding a smartly dressed Draco. Sirius took in her floor length black dress and heavy black winter cloak with a fur trim and frowned, 'are we entertaining tonight?'

Narcissa blushed deeply, 'Oh! I'm sorry...Severus invited Draco and I for dinner tonight...he didn't tell you?'

Sirius shook his head, 'No, he didn't, but it isn't a problem, come in,' he smiled warmly at his cousin and opened the door wider for her to enter the house. Luckily Sirius was a pretty good all-round wizard and in 5 minutes he had the table ready and the dining room fit for entertaining.

Draco looked incredibly adorable in little green dress robes and Sirius excused himself to change Harry into his black and red ones, while he too flung on a set of black dress robes with a pale purple trim.

After Sirius had gotten Narcissa a glass of wine and they were sitting at the table with the two boys playing in front of them, he felt a lot more relaxed, 'how was your day?' Narcissa asked, hiding a smile behind her wine glass.

'It was the worst day ever,' Sirius said with a sigh, 'I sat on my chair this morning and it collapsed, then my broom threw me off, I fell into the swimming pool, spilt tea all down myself, fell up the stairs and as I was answering the door to let you in tripped, skidded across the floor and hit my head off of the floor.'

Narcissa laughed, 'I wondered what the thud was.'

Sirius shook his head, still not believing the amount of bad luck he'd gotten today, 'its Friday the 13th, I'm sure I'm cursed.'

Narcissa grinned and Sirius narrowed his eyes at her, 'do you know something?' he asked.

'No,' Narcissa said honestly, still smiling, 'but you are a Marauder and do the Marauders not delight in pranking one another?'

'Yes, but...' Sirius began, trailing off as he realised what Narcissa was suggesting, 'they planned this! Remus and Snape, they've been planning this together!'

Narcissa laughed once more, 'On the bright side at least you aren't cursed,' she said cheerily.

'True,' Sirius admitted, 'but those two will pay for today.'

At his words the door to the house opened and Severus and Remus made their way into the dining room, Severus wearing black dress robes and Remus wearing black dress robes with a light blue trim.

'Thank you for telling me that we were entertaining tonight,' Sirius said to Severus as Harry hurried over to the man shouting, 'SEVVY! UP!'

Severus smiled as he lifted Harry up, 'Ah, Harry, I've missed you,' he said fondly to the boy then turning to Sirius, 'I apologise Black, with all my marking I merely forgot.'

'Right,' Sirius mumbled as the doorbell rang once more.

'Ah, that will be Frank and Alice,' Remus said with a smile as he made his way out of the room to answer the door.

'I know it was you and Remus who pranked me to think I was cursed by the way,' Sirius said to Severus with a glare, 'mark my words I'll get you back.'

'I'm sure you will,' Severus said smoothly, pouring himself a glass of wine as Frank and Alice walked into the room with little Neville running in front of them. The moment he saw Draco he ran over to him and Harry, who felt left out, struggled to get out of Severus's arms so he wouldn't miss out on any of the fun.

'You look lovely tonight Alice,' Sirius said, as he kissed Alice on the cheek. She was wearing a floor length red dress which went beautifully with her pale skin and dark brown hair. Alice usually wore her hair down and in all the time Sirius had known her she'd had long hair. However her hair was now shoulder length.

'Thank you Sirius,' Alice said with a smile as she accepted the glass of wine he handed her.

'Oi, stop flirting with my wife,' Frank joked making Alice chuckle, 'I don't think I'm his type,' she said as she glanced at Remus who smiled, 'yes you're probably right.'

The only people who knew about Sirius and Remus's relationship were the people in the room at the moment, Dumbledore and Peter which meant that Voldemort had probably known too, or did know if he really was still alive out there. It was the 1980's, but the wizarding world was behind the Muggle world and in wizarding society the relationship would have been highly frowned upon.

The group all took their seats at the marble table in the formal dining room of Potter manor while the 3 boys played on a mat that Severus had transfigured onto the floor next to them.

'I actually have great news,' Narcissa announced as they all began to eat the delicious steak pie that Velda had prepared for dinner.

'About the manor?' Severus asked and Narcissa nodded, she smiled brightly, 'I found someone to buy the manor.'

'I know,' Frank said, chuckling, 'I was the one who put the bid in for it.'

'What?' Alice asked in surprise and Frank then elaborated, 'not me personally, on behalf of the Ministry. Bagnold thinks it's an opportunity to create that war orphanage she's so keen on.'

'They're turning _that _into an orphanage?' Alice asked in shock, adding, 'no offence Narcissa.'

Narcissa shook her head and smiled, 'Don't worry about it, I'm glad to see the back of the place.'

'They have a plan anyway,' Frank said, to Sirius and Remus as well as Alice, 'when you come back on the job on Monday we're on the case.'

Sirius frowned, swallowed his mouthful and asked, 'I'm working with you next week?'

Frank looked a little anxious for a moment, 'Uh, actually, I wasn't supposed to tell you this just yet but I'd rather you had a few days to get used to it. Alice has transferred to working more within the law aspect now that Neville's getting older, he's going to need tutored soon, so Kingsley has appointed me as your new partner.'

'Oh,' Sirius said, trying to get that piece of information to sink in, 'you're replacing James?'

Frank merely nodded, he could see that Sirius was struggling with the news, but he pushed it from his mind, he couldn't let it upset him now when they had guests, he'd save that for later when he could talk to Remus about it, 'and our first job has something to do with Malfoy Manor?'

Frank nodded again, smiling behind his wine glass, he liked the way Sirius thought, the way he didn't let things upset him until he was alone and felt it was safe to do so. It was a skill that wasn't required in their line of work but that certainly helped, Frank often wished he had that same ability, 'Yes, we're in charge of clearing the Manor and making it safe for children. We're working in co-operation with the Department of Health and Safety of course.'

Sirius scoffed and Remus grinned, 'Oh, Sirius, you get to work with your favourite person,' he teased.

Sirius glared at his boyfriend, 'please tell me that doesn't mean Bertha Jorkins.'

'I'm afraid it does,' Frank laughed, sharing grins of amusement with all the others, they all knew about Sirius's history with Bertha.

'Does anyone care to explain this to Severus and I?' Narcissa asked kindly, Alice grinned, 'I will gladly explain Narcissa,' she said, as Sirius groaned and shook his head.

'Bertha was a few years above us at school, I think she might have been in your year,' Alice began, Narcissa nodded, 'yes I remember her, she was a Hufflepuff, very irritating girl.'

Alice laughed loudly as Sirius nodded his agreement, 'Yes, she still is. She has a bit of a crush on Sirius and tends to chase him around the Ministry, she has no idea of course about Remus.'

'Ah,' Narcissa realised with a chuckle, 'and you must work with her for a week, I see.'

'I'm so not looking forward to this,' Sirius whined, 'is this Kingsley's idea of punishment?'

Frank grinned, 'Who knows, he just said he wanted you to have an easy week back.'

Narcissa gave a bitter laugh, 'Easy? Cleaning out Malfoy Manor, an easy job?' she shook her head, 'goodness knows what you will find in our attic, and then there is the hidden basement under the drawing room floor which I'm not even allowed in. There's at least one torture dungeon, probably more I don't know about.'

'I'm not surprised,' Frank said truthfully, 'when clearing out Crouch manor we came across the strangest, darkest objects, and there were 4 torture chambers.'

'This conversation is a little heavy for Friday evening,' Remus said as he clicked his fingers for the house elves to come and clear away the plates.

'We should move to the lounge,' Severus said, and when everyone, including Harry, Draco and Neville, were settled in the main lounge the conversation had changed once more. The group found themselves discussing the children, Hogwarts and what was going to happen now the country was recovering from war.

It started to get late so Alice, Frank and Neville decided to head home, Alice kissed everyone goodnight, even Severus much to his surprise, and Frank said to Sirius, 'look forward to seeing you at work on Monday.'

Sirius joked, I'm not looking forward to it,' he muttered, 'bloody Bertha Jorkins,' causing Frank to laugh as he and his family left the Manor for their house in Godric's Hollow.

When Sirius and Remus returned to the lounge Narcissa smiled and got to her feet, 'I should probably go too,' she admitted.

'Have you found somewhere to stay then?' Severus asked kindly, Narcissa shook her head, 'not yet, I was planning on getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron for the moment.'

'Don't be ridiculous Narcissa,' Sirius said from where he stood in the doorway of the room, 'don't pay for a room, you know you're always welcome here.'

'I don't want to encroach on you all, it wouldn't be best for Harry,' Narcissa said, picking Draco up, the little boy started to cry as he usually did when he was being separated from Harry.

'There's so many of us in this house as it is that 2 more people wouldn't hurt,' Remus said kindly, 'in fact, it would be great for Harry to have a woman in the house.'

'And look how the boys get when we separate them,' Sirius added, pointing to Harry who was also crying now. Severus had been very quiet throughout the entire conversation.

Narcissa seemed to be wrestling with herself but she eventually said, 'well, if you're sure, I'll just stay a little while, a week maybe, until I can find somewhere.'

'No problem,' Remus said, smiling at Sirius, 'I'll set up a room for you. There are 2 nurseries on the 1st floor. Would you like your room to be near Draco's?'

'That would be great,' Narcissa said gratefully, 'thank you so much for doing this.'

'Family is important Narcissa,' Sirius said truthfully, 'especially at times like this when so many people have lost theirs.'

In a rare show of emotion Narcissa hugged Sirius, forgetting she was holding Draco and crushing the boy a little, he yelled, 'ow!' and Narcissa gasped, 'Oh sorry darling,' she said, putting Draco on the floor where he toddled over to Harry.

Sirius was slightly embarrassed by this affection and didn't know how to deal with it, but thankfully he didn't have too as Remus reappeared in the lounge, 'I've put you next to Severus,' he said, causing Severus's heart to pound faster than it should have done.

'Perfect,' Narcissa said, she yawned, 'I can't thank you enough for this,' she said as she lifted Draco up and said, 'but I really should get Draco to bed.'

'Harry should be going to bed too,' Severus said quickly, lifting up the black-haired boy, 'he should have been in bed half an hour ago.'

'Well,' said Remus lightly, 'it is a Friday night.'

Severus and Narcissa made their way up the stairs, each holding a child, they were silent, and the silence was slightly awkward. Narcissa could feel the tension emanating from Severus.

When they reached the two nurseries the boys began to sense that they would be separated and both of them began to wail.

'Maybe we should just let Draco sleep in the nursery with Harry for the moment,' Severus suggested. His mind was on Harry's welfare and not on the fact Narcissa would be staying in the manor.

'Will Harry mind sharing his room?' Narcissa asked, following Severus into the nursery which was decorated with snitches and broomsticks.

'No, he's such a laid back child,' Severus said, as he put Harry in his cot and conjured another one for Draco which he placed right next to Harry's. Narcissa lowered her son into the cot and they both transfigured the boys into their night clothes. Severus couldn't explain what he was feeling at that point in time; he just knew that this felt very domestic and very right.

Narcissa kissed Draco on the cheek and made to leave, she turned to see if Severus was following her, and was confused when she saw him sitting on a chair by Harry's cot, 'aren't you coming?' she asked.

'I'm reading Harry his bedtime story,' Severus said, causing Narcissa to gape a little, 'Draco's never had bedtime stories,' she admitted, hovering in the doorway.

Severus didn't really know what to do so for a moment he was silent, gripping the book in his hands, 'you can stay,' he said, adding hastily, 'only if you want too of course.'

Narcissa smiled and began to make her way back into the room, 'I'd love too,' she admitted as she took a seat next to Severus and watched as the younger man began to read Harry his bedtime story from the thick book in his hands.

It was one she knew well, a shortened version of 'The Wizard and the Hopping Pot', her parents had never read it to her of course because it encouraged Wizards and Muggles to interact, but she'd had it read to her in secret by her older sister Andromeda often as a young girl. Narcissa smiled as she watched Severus read to the boys who slowly drifted off, he had a lovely reading voice and he was so good with the children.

Narcissa had feelings for Severus, conflicting feelings that confused her. Severus was 5 years younger than her and he'd just lost the woman he'd loved for almost all of his life. She herself wasn't in the best place after just going through a messy divorce and selling the home she'd lived in for all of her married life. She was only 26 years old, yet she was a divorced, single Mother. Severus made her feel alive again, they had a connection that she'd noticed even while she and Lucius were married and Severus was with Lily. She hoped he felt the same, but she didn't dare say anything to him, she didn't want to risk losing him as a friend.

When Severus finished reading the story both of the boys were asleep so Narcissa and Severus quietly left the room. Once Narcissa had gently pushed the door until it clicked shut she smiled at Severus, 'that was lovely. Do you read to him every night?'

'Every night I can,' Severus admitted, 'I can't always make it back from Hogwarts to read to him, but when I can, I do.'

'I'm sure Sirius and Remus read to Harry when you're not here,' Narcissa added and Severus nodded, 'yes, they do, but they tell me it doesn't drift him off to sleep like it does when I read.'

'You have an amazing voice,' Narcissa said, the blush rising in her cheeks, 'it captures you...you can make me hang on to every single word you say.'

'Really?' Severus asked slowly, almost seductively, and Narcissa found herself watching his lips. She nodded, 'yeah,' she said quietly, doing something out of character completely. Narcissa pushed herself onto her tiptoes and kissed Severus.

Severus was surprised by the kiss at first and Narcissa didn't hear the small gasp but she felt the air produced when he did it. She was scared at first that he wouldn't kiss her back and the seconds that followed felt like minutes. Eventually Severus's lips connected properly with Narcissa's and then things got out of control. What had started out as an innocent kiss ended with Narcissa pressed against the wall and Severus kissing her hungrily, it was like he'd wanted to do this for years without realising it.

When the kiss broke Severus felt the fire burning in his stomach, he looked at Narcissa with something in his eyes she couldn't decipher and then shook his head, feeling like he'd betrayed Lily, 'I'm sorry,' he said simply, turning on his heel and making his way into his bedroom, the door shutting loudly behind him, making Narcissa jump.

Narcissa touched her lips where Severus's had just been, she was still leaning against the wall in shock when Remus appeared in the corridor.

'Did...' Remus asked, not needing to finish the sentence. Narcissa merely nodded, 'he regrets it,' she said, her voice breaking, 'I'm not her,' she shook her head, trying to hide the tears threatening to fall, 'I can't stay here for long, I'm sorry,' she said as she made her way into her own room, shut the door behind her and collapsed onto her bed, eventually letting her tears fall.

Narcissa wasn't the only one crying that night. Sirius hadn't come to terms with Frank's bombshell earlier, but as he lay in bed with Remus later that night he realised that James was gone, he was being replaced, he'd never see him again, or joke with him at work and in a rare breakdown he let himself cry in Remus's arms that night.

_**TBC**_


End file.
